The Dark Tournament
by KairiGokuJr
Summary: Having failed to kill Toguro, Kairi will now fight in the Dark Tournament or die. However as an alternate, she can only fight if one of her team members is dead. Who is Toguro planning to kill and can she save them in time? Hiei/OC Sequel to Ghost Files
1. A Bad Feeling

_[A/N: Welcome to the Dark Tournament kiddies! Enjoy.]_

I turned over in bed and stared at my clock. It was 4 a.m.

I rolled back over onto my back and stared up at the ceiling. It had been just two days ago when I'd saved Yukina, defeated Tuguro and mastered the Kaio-ken technique. The last day of school had been yesterday and I was there, lying in bed, unable to sleep for no reason at all except excessive paranoia.

I climbed out of bed and tossed on a hoodie and some tennis shoes and went to the only place that I knew would give me some peace – Spirit World.

I arrived at Koenma's office where he was at his desk looking very intensely through some papers.

"Don't you people ever sleep?" I asked him.

"Sometimes, on the weekend," he said, half paying attention. "What do you want?"

"I've been left with a bad feeling from my last case. Yukina is safe and that's all well and good but, I can't help but feel like I missed something and that something bad is happening and being psychic I can't really brush off feelings like that so easily," I said.

". . . We were going to inform you in the morning," Koenma said searching around on his desk for his remote.

"Inform me of what?" I asked.

Koenma picked up his remote and flicked on the his television to the scene where we had left Tuguro. "After you left. . ."

He pressed and to my horror Tuguro and his brother both rose to their feet, very much alive.

". . . That's not good," I said.

"There's no telling what he may do. We don't know where he is. All we know is that he's in cahoots with Sakyo," Koenma said

I sighed. "Just what I need. Two incredibly strong demons working with a gangster."

"For, now we should be fine, but we have reason to suspect that your involvement with Yukina was expected, if not planned – for all of you," Koenma said.

"All of us? By that you mean Kuwabara, Yusuke, Hiei and Kurama?" I asked. Koenma nodded.

"I don't know what they were planning and we're still unsure if they were planning at all, but warn them. And be careful," he said.

I nodded and made my home.

I still didn't sleep. I was more paranoid than ever.

The next day came and as soon as I could I called Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama and of course they didn't answer.

"What good is technology if no one uses it?" I asked calling Kayko.

"You seriously need to calm down," Goten told me.

"As long as there's a rogue demon actively looking for us I will not," I said.

_"Hi! You've reached Kayko-!"_ I hung the phone up.

"I guess I'll have to actually go to West City won't I?" I asked.

"Looks that way," he said. "You're having a really stressful week."

"And thought my biggest issue this week would be making sure I passed ninth grade," I said.

"And it's a miracle you did," Goten said. "It's a miracle Yusuke did."

"That may or may not have had something to do with me and Kuwabara doing all of Yusuke's make up work for him while he was training with Genkai," I said.

"You are such a good friend," Goten said.

I got up from my seat. "I'll be back after I've rounded up the troops."

"Be careful," Goten said.

"I'll try," I replied. Dashed out of the house and took off to West City.

I was completely unnerved by the fact that the Tuguro brothers were still alive. My only priority at the moment was to find them and warn them.

This task was obviously easier said than done. By noon I was tired of looking and had all but given up hope as I dragged myself to Trunks' house

"Laundry day?" Trunks asked mocking my attire.

"I'm looking for a baby to punch. Is your sister awake?" I asked throwing myself onto his bed.

"You're hilarious," Trunks replied, rolling his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"So, a few days ago I had this mission that required me to kill like the strongest demon I've ever known right and I killed him and everything and mission went successfully except it turns out I didn't really kill him and now he's probably looking for me and Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei to kill us or something because it seems like they lured us all together in the first place for whatever reason so now I have to go find everyone an no one is answering their phone, not even Kayko, and I don't even know where to begin to start looking for Hiei! And I haven't slept all night and I can't go to sleep because I'm too paranoid that something will happen if I do and-!"

"You. Need. To. Calm. Down," Trunks said, clasping his hand over my mouth. "Calm down."

He took his hand away and I took a deep breath. "Why can't _you_ be my partner? I always know where to find you when I need you."

"Well I'm not your partner," Trunks said. "But, I did talk to Kayko this morning and she said something about going on a date with Yusuke in Uptown."

"Damn it, he' not gonna be there. He bails every time they have a date!" I said.

"But at least you have a place to start looking," Trunks said.

I groaned. "Admittedly, it'll be easy to find Yusuke and Kuwabara, and I know I'll eventually run into Kurama, but Hiei is just all over the place and if I saw him I probably couldn't catch him anyway – fast mother effer."

"Well you're not finding anybody lying here on my bed," Trunks said. "So get going."

I sat up. "Are you _trying_ to get rid of me? Usually you're so eager to hang out with me but now you're acting like you're irritated with me."

"Maybe just a little," he said.

"What for?" I asked. "What did I do?"

"It may have something to do with you practically ignoring me since you left for Maze Castle like you said you wouldn't do," Trunks said.

I sighed. "It's complicated. That mission was rough and it took a lot out of everyone and then we barely had time to recover before we had to go save that girl and I was training and actually putting effort into school for once."

"You have an excuse for everything, Kairi," Trunks said.

"But I didn't intentionally go out of my way to ignore you. You have to understand that. It's just. . . I don't know," I said.

"Sometimes your friends get lost in the hustle and bustle of being Spirit Detective?" he asked. I sighed. "Wow. You even have an excuse for having an excuse."

I groaned. "I can't help it. Sometimes I forget."

"I didn't realize I was so forgettable," he said with a frown.

"You are not forgettable," I said throwing my arms around him dramatically. "You are like one of my best friends! I love you, Trunks! And I promise as soon as all this mess with Tuguro is over we are going to hang out."

"Okay, GJ, I got it," Trunks said ducking out of my hug. He chuckled.

"I'm sorry. Really, I've been a bad friend," I said.

"No you haven't. You're just busy," he said.

"Speaking of busy, I really should go find those guys before a demon tries to kill them," I said getting up and walking to his window. "I'll see you around."

"You're going out the window?" he asked.

"Yeah, why not? I mean, it'd be easier to just fly all the way to Uptown wouldn't it?" I asked, opening it.

"I guess," he said walking over to me. "But you could just as easily fly from the front door."

"Do you want me to fly out the front door? Would that make you happy?" I asked.

"Do what you want, Kairi," he said.

"Okay, then the window it is," I said. "Anything else you have to say to delay my leaving?"

He shook his head and pulled me into a hug.

"I guess I can come back and see you later if all this gets resolved easily," I said.

"I'll hold you to that," he said, letting me go. "See you later."

"Alright," I said.

Maybe I blinked or glanced away for a second, but when my focus came back to Trunks, I was kissing him. My arm were wrapped around him, his fingers were twisting away through my ponytail.

I pushed him away. "Real nice, Trunks."

"What?" he asked.

"Where do you get off kissing me like that? I told I don't like you that way," I said.

"You could've fooled me. You kissed me back," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "I told you, we're just friends. I don't want to be your girlfriend or you make out buddy or anything like that, so just. . . Stop."

Trunks heaved a sigh. "Fine, Kairi."

". . . I'll see you around," I said.

I climbed out the window and started to Uptown, wishing I was 10-years-old again where I didn't have to be concerned about one of my best friends liking me.

In Uptown, I landed on top of an abandoned parking structure and looked out. Even here this was moot.

"I'm never going to find anyone," I said.

"Find who?"

I jumped, startled by Hiei randomly showing up like that.

"Geez, way to scare the piss out of me, Hiei," I said.

"Who are you looking for?" he asked.

"You actually," I said. "Also, Kurama, Kuwabara and Yusuke. You haven't seen them have you?"

"Can't say that I have," he replied. "What did you want?"

". . . Tuguro isn't dead," I said. "And he's probably looking for us. Koenma thinks that the five of us were lured there for whatever reason and that the Tuguro brothers are working with a man called Sakyo. They're up to something. Otherwise, would he play dead instead of killing me like we all know he was perfectly capable of doing?"

"Looks like we're going to find out," Hiei said pointing.

There was a loud explosion in the direction he was pointing. I saw that someone had taken a large chunk out of the building.

"Did you see him?"I asked.

"He's on a motorcycle," Hiei said. "And he seems to have found Urameshi."


	2. Alternate

_[A/N: Sorry I'm such a failure at updating. It's always hard in the begging as I am crap with exposition.]_

Abandoning Hiei, I dashed off in Tuguro's direction, landing between Yusuke and Tuguro on his motorcycle.

"Ah, the other detective," Tuguro said.

"Why play dead?" I asked. "What are you and Sakyo up to?"

"Your answers will come soon, detective," he said. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt any of you – at least not today."

"What do you want?" Yusuke asked.

"My brother, would like to have a word with you Miss Kairi," Tuguro said.

"Your brother?" I asked.

"Yes, he went looking for you at your friend's house. I imagine he'll be quite irritated when he learns that you're not at his house," Tuguro said.

Damn it, damn it, damn it. I'd lead them straight to Trunks. I was being careless.

"I promise your partner will be alive and in one piece when you see him next," Tuguro said.

I looked over to Yusuke. "Don't do anything stupid."

"Same goes for you," he said.

I took off back to Trunks' house and climbed right back into his window.

"Trunks!" I called out.

"Kairi," he said. I looked over to him sitting at his desk, standing across from him was a gray man dressed in a ratty blue suit with long straggly black hair.

"You must be the elder Tuguro," I said. "What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to extend and invitation to you," he said.

"Then you extend it to me and you leave my friends out of it," I said.

"Oh, I'm not going to hurt him. Not today at least," Elder Tuguro said.

"What do want?" I asked.

"Two months from now on lovely Hanging Neck Island a tournament is going to be taking place - the Dark Tournament. You, your partner, Hiei and Kurama are to enter as the special guest team. If you refuse to enter or if your team loses _then_ we will not hesitate to kill your friend here," he said.

"You're crazy. The Dark Tournament is the worst gathering of scum and villainy that I've ever seen," I said.

"Then I should kill your friend here?" Elder Tuguro asked. His fingers grew long and stretched out toward Trunks. I grabbed them before they could reach Trunks. They were like long pieces of rubber. I released them and he retracted them. "I'll take that as a no. You should know, detective, that there is one stipulation."

"Stipulation? You force me into a tournament, threaten my friend and dare to add a stipulation?" I asked.

"Yes. You see _you_ will be entering the tournament as an alternate," he said.

"Alternate? So who do you expect to be the fifth fighter on the team to be?" I asked.

"That's your problem," he said walking to the window casually. "And by the way, my brother promises you will fight."

"But-."

Elder Tuguro was gone from the window before I could get another word out.

". . . You alright?" Trunks asked.

I nodded. "For the moment."

"Only for the moment?" he asked. "What's the Dark Tournament?"

"It's a wretched tournament. All the biggest and baddest apparitions around flock there in teams of five to compete for some grand prize of having any wish you want granted. Basically they all just stand around and kill each other all day. It's vile and almost illegal but they pay off Spirit World every year so they can continue on operation. Koenma always warned me to stay away from it. They don't favor humans too much," I said.

"And what's this about being an alternate?" Trunks asked.

"Each team is made up of five people and they're allowed two alternates. There is a very particular rule that must be followed for an alternate to fight in the place of a team member," I said.

"And what rule would that be?" Trunks asked.

". . . One of the team members has to be dead," I said. "And I don't like that I was just guaranteed to fight even though I'm being entered as the alternate. I think Tuguro means to kill someone on my team during the tournament."

"Who?" Trunks asked.

I shrugged. "Maybe Yusuke? I don't know. This whole thing is out of the blue. None of us has had anything to do with the Tuguro Brothers until a few days ago. I don't understand what their beef is. Suddenly deciding they want to kill one of my friends doesn't make any sense. . . And he came here and threatened you. What if he'd hurt you? I'm so stupid."

"Relax, I'm fine," Trunks said. "Besides, I probably could've taken him."

I chuckled. "You're stupidly brave."

"I get it from my dad," he said.

"Your dad isn't brave. Your dad is just over estimates his abilities," I said. "Do you?"

"Definitely," he said.

I sighed. "Speaking of dad, I'll probably need to talk to yours. There's no way I can take on the Tuguro brothers right now. Not even with the Kaio-ken technique under my belt."

"You wouldn't have that problem if you were a Super Saiyan," Trunks said.

I scoffed. "I don't need to be ridiculously strong."

"You're already ridiculously strong. That comes with being a Saiyan."

I rolled my eyes. "The point is I just need to be powerful enough to defeat Tuguro. Not to blow up a planet."

"You already _can_ blow up a planet," Trunks chuckled.

I punched him in the arm. "Be safe. Keep an eye out for demons."

"I will," he said. "And I'm sorry about earlier. For the kiss I mean."

I smiled at him. "Thanks but, I did kind of flip out on you. . . I just want us to be friends you know. Besides, if I were to go out with you I wouldn't want you to be like a starter boyfriend."

"You're right. You should date all the idiots you can so you can learn to appreciate me," he said.

"Smug bastard," I said.

His door opened and Vegeta walked in.

"I thought I sensed a strong power level in here," he said. "Where did it go?"

"Away," I said.

"I'm sensing this has something to do with you then," he said.

"You know, I like to bring my work home with me," I said.

"Home? You don't live here," Vegeta said.

"But you see Vegeta, I'm actually in need of some training, otherwise this nasty little demon I know is going to kill your son," I said.

"Really?" he asked. I nodded. "And I'm going to assume this is also _your_ fault."

"I don't really know that yet. I'm still a little sketchy on the details," I said. I explained the whole situation to Vegeta as best I could. By the end of it, he was shaking his head at me.

"You're almost as much trouble as Kakarot," Vegeta said.

"It's not like I do it on purpose," I said. "Anyway, can you help me or not?"

"You are beyond help," Vegeta said.

"That's not a very nice thing to say," I said crossing my arms. "I know I'm hard headed and a bit dense sometimes but I am not beyond help. You used to help me all the time."

"I can help you become a Super Saiyan which you don't want to do," Vegeta said.

"Going Super on the Tuguro brothers who are strong as hell would be overkill," I said. "I'm sure you could handle them without going super, so that's all I want."

Vegeta glanced over at Trunks who was waiting for the inevitable.

"You're not going to go away until I agree are you?" Vegeta asked

"That's usually the case with Kairi," Trunks said.

"Another annoying trait I picked up from my father," I said giving him a thumbs up.

Vegeta groaned. "Be here bright and early tomorrow."

"Thanks, Vegeta. You won't regret this," I said.

"Yes I will," he said walking out of the room.

I looked over to Trunks. "Are you going to help me?"

"Are you going to give me a choice?" he asked.

I shrugged. "This time, I guess, since I'm pretty much doing this to protect you."

"I don't need your protection," he said.

"Of course you don't," I said rolling my eyes, "but I'm going to protect you anyway because it's my job and because that's what friends do."

"Normal people usually draw the line at fighting demons," Trunks said.

"That's why all those other friends are failures and why I'm so awesome," I said.


	3. I'm On A Boat

"What do you mean someone's trying to kill us?" Kuwabara practically screamed.

The time for the tournament had finally arrived, and while we all waited for Yusuke and the fifth fighter he promised me, I informed Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei of the arrangements the Tuguro brothers had made.

"The whole purpose of the tournament is to kill us," I said. "Putting me down as an alternate is just proof that's he's trying to kill one of you in particular. So while you're all busy fighting, I'll be doing detective work and also trying to make sure none of you ends up dead. . . Of course if you get killed in the ring then it's completely your own fault."

"A likely fate for you, Kuwabara," Hiei said.

"You're a little cretin, you know that?" Kuwabara asked.

I sighed. "Some things never change do they?"

"Unfortunately no," Kurama replied.

"What have you spent the past two months doing?" Kuwabara asked. "Sitting around on your butt all day?"

"No. Why would I do that?" I asked.

"Because you don't have to fight—duh!" he replied.

"So that if someone kills you I can be useless, we can lose and then watch Tuguro kill everyone? Thanks, but I'll pass," I said. "If you really must know, I clocked a lot of hours in the gravity room at Capsule Corp. And I finally got the kaio-ken technique down pat, not to mention that yet-to-be-named one I used at Maze Castle."

"So you have all of these abilities that are essentially useless to us?" Hiei asked.

"I am not useless," I huffed. "I suspect even the time you spend outside of the ring will be difficult. Everyone there is going to hate us."

"True. Being the designated special and human team will earn us a few enemies," Kurama said.

"More than a few," Hiei said. "Not to mention we're fighting with the detectives."

"Oi! Time to board the ship!" the captain announced in the middle of our conversation.

"But, hey we've still got some stragglers!" Kuwabara said pointing out that Yusuke was late, as usual.

"Then we'll have to send out a hit man to find them and bring him here. Thems the rules," the captain said.

"That won't be necessary."

Out of the brush walked Yusuke. Beside him a small person with a mask covering their whole head.

"Can't make an entrance if you come on time can you, Urameshi?" I asked.

"You know it, Kairi," he said.

Hiei stepped out in front of us and stared Yusuke down. Then, he attacked him.

I looked over to Kurama. "Some things never change, as you said."

"You'd think they'd grow up," I said looking over to the boys. "Can we get a move on please? Can you stop acting like a bunch of 10-years-olds?"

The two backed off and Yusuke chuckled.

"Well, Hiei, I see your people skills have improved," he said.

"You've improved a bit yourself," Hiei replied.

"A bit? I'll say they improve a lot a bit!" Kuwabara said. "They were so fast I could barely keep up!"

"Don't discourage Kuwabara. The fact that your eyes kept up at all shows you've improved," Kurama said. "I'd even say that you may be as fast as Yusuke or I by the end of the tournament."

"You really think so?" Kuwabara asked. "Could I even be as fast as Hiei?"

I laughed. "Shoot for the moon, Kazuma, even if you miss you'll land among the stars."

"I'll take that as a no," Kuwabara said with a frown.

We boarded the boat and walked to back against one of the railings. We were the human team and we needed to keep a low profile.

"So what else have you been learning since we've been away?" Hiei asked.

"Just some stuff. Learning how to be a better Saiyan," I said.

"And how does one do that?" he asked.

"I learned more about the dead race of people I come from," I said. "For instance, we grow significantly stronger with each battle."

"Wow. . . That's incredibly unfair," Kuwabara said.

"And if I were to take a near fatal blow the amount my power would grow would be startling," I said.

"Must be nice," Hiei said.

I shrugged. "You can guess how often I take near fatal damage in battle."

"About as often as Hiei does, I suspect," Kurama said.

"Yeah, not like you, Kurama. You like to fling yourself in front of swords and dive in barrage of bullet-like stones. You simply haven't saved the day unless you've taken enough damage to earn a purple heart," I said.

"It's part of my charm," he chuckled.

"It's moronic is what it is," Hiei scoffed.

"Oh, you're just upset because he helped Yusuke kick your ass the one time," I said. That customary scowl found its way onto Hiei's face and I felt pleased with myself. "So I did some research on Team Tuguro."

"And what did you discover?" Kurama asked.

"Not much. Just that they're so strong they've never really had time to actually show their full potential," I said. "Their fights don't last very long and naturally they've never lost. You have the Tuguro brothers of course, then some guy name Karasu. I read that he blows things up."

"Blows things up?" Hiei asked.

I shrugged. "I don't what that means either. Bui, the fourth member of their team, is supposedly a man dressed in armor; about nine feet tall who carries a big axe and doesn't talk, so naturally Hiei will want to face him because of his short man's complex."

Kurama chuckled and Hiei scowled again.

"You keep making that face and it'll get stuck like that," I said.

888

"Ugh! This is boring!" Kuwabara whined, half an hour into our trip.

"Here," I said handing him the book I'd been reading. "This will entertain you."

"A book? I didn't know you read," Kuwabara said.

"And clearly you don't," I said snatching it away.

"What is it?" Kurama asked.

"It's the _Divine Comedy_," I said.

"Dante?" Kurama asked. "Are you reading it for school?"

"Nope," I said. "I decided since we were traveling into the depths of hell, I should at least figure out what to expect," I said.

I looked off into the distance and could see Hanging Neck Island. It looked just as horrible and scary as I had imagined it. It was one place I didn't want to be.

"'All hope abandon, ye who enter in,'" I said.

"How appropriate," Hiei said remarked.

"Alright, listen up!" the captain suddenly announced. "It'll be awhile before we dock so we're going to provide you with some entertainment."

"I knew it!" Kuwabara cheered, suddenly excited. "Dinner and dancing."

"Can we please throw him overboard?" Hiei asked.

"Sadly that is not an option," I said.

"The preliminaries of the tournament will be held here!" the captain exclaimed.

"How fun? Only one team on the boat is eligible," I said.

"Can't say I'm surprised," Hiei said as a huge stadium ring rose up out of the floor of the boat.

"Now get yer strongest man and send 'em up ter fight," the captain said.

Kuwabara stepped forward, stupidly brave as always.

"You're joking?" Hiei said.

"Watch it, Shrimp! I'm fighting and there's nothing any of you can do about it," Kuwabara said.

All this courage was for nothing as a group of very large demons stepped forward and talked about how they would "crush" and "squish" whatever member of the human team that would come forward.

Kuwabara then cleared his throat.

"Well, Urameshi, seeing as how you're captain and all, it only seems fair that you take on those giant demons," Kuwabara said. But Yusuke was reclined against the railing, completely asleep. "Urameshi! Wake up!"

"Enough Kuwabara. After the training Yusuke endured, he's going to need his rest," Kurama said.

"Then who's gonna fight all the big scary demons?" Kuwabara asked.

That's when the littlest Masked Fighter stepped forward.

"It seems we have a volunteer," Hiei said as the fighter went up to the ring.

"What? We don't know jack squat about this guy! What if he loses?" Kuwabara asked.

"Then we'll kill all the demon on the boat, say we're the winning team and no one will complain," Hiei said.

". . . You didn't have too many friends growing up did you?" Kuwabara asked.

Masked Fighter made their way up to the ring. While I agreed that this would be good because none of us knew who this person was or why Yusuke had brought and this was a prime opportunity to gauge their abilities, watching them stand there surround by demons 6 times their size didn't inspire much confidence. Watching them all decide to gang on Masked Fighter before fighting each other wasn't helpful either.

They all ran at the Masked Fighter who then turned around and did something extraordinary.

They fired a shot gun, one that even Yusuke wouldn't be able to duplicate on his best day, sending all the fighters on the platforms overboard, out of the ring or to their deaths.

I shook my head. This wasn't just some random fighter Yusuke plucked out of obscurity, it was Genkai.

She jumped down from the platform and came back over to us.

"Whoa! That was awesome little dude! Now how about you take off those bandages and showing us who you really are?" Kuwabara suggested.

Genkai pointed behind us. We all turned and saw that every demon the boat was encircling us, looked exceptionally pissed off.

"Well this situation seems vaguely familiar," Kurama said.

"They stole my idea. They must pay dearly for this," Hiei said.

It didn't take us long to dispatch all of the demons after the exceptional amount of training we'd all been put through these past few months. Even Yusuke in his sleep leant a hand.

"I hate you grandma!" he yelled as he punched erratically, sending demons over board. Then he fell back asleep, drooling and snoring and all.

"Good he's finally awake," Kuwabara said stepping over a body that was lying sprawled on the ground.

"No you fool he's talking in his sleep," Hiei replied.

"Let it go it was an easy mistake to make," I said stepping over a twitching demon while Kuwabara thoughtfully muttered something to himself.

"What are you mumbling?" Kurama asked.

Hiei scoffed. "He's trying to talk in his sleep while he's awake."

". . . Hey, where'd my book go?" I asked looking around for it.

"I think that's it there," Kurama said pointing to the ground. I scooted a demon out the way with my foot and there drenched in blood and all sorts of entrails was my book.

"Right," I said with a nod. "Pretty sure I don't want that anymore."


	4. Intimidation Tactics

_[A/N: I am an unnecessary Koto fangirl. FYI.]_

We checked into our hotel and were settling in for our short stay on the island. We'd been given a room barely large enough to accommodate all of us and I could already tell things were going to be crowded any time we were all in the room together.

After settling in, a bell boy brought up a tray of coffee, courtesy of the hotel. Immediately, Kuwabara went into conspiracy theory mode.

"I'm not drinking mine. It's probably poisoned," he said.

"They brought us here to fight. I don't think they intend to kill with poison. That would defeat the purpose," I said.

"Well I don't see you drinking yours," he scolded me.

"I don't drink coffee. Do you know what that stuff can do to your insides? We're talking major bowel disruption here," I said.

"Ewe," Hiei said.

"Hey, the more you know," I said to him. "Plus I'd be totally wired and ten times more annoying than I am now."

"Sounds like you're doing us a favor," Hiei said.

"Yep, just for you, Hiei," I said.

"Why are there only two cups on the table?" Kurama asked.

"Those are the ones me and Kairi aren't drinking. Duh, we had this conversation," Kuwabara said.

"Yes. There should be one for you and for Kairi, but the one for Yusuke is missing," Kurama said.

"Oh. . . You don't think Urameshi can drink in his sleep do you?" Kuwabara asked.

"I doubt it," I said.

I don't know what drew my attention to the door, but there, sitting on the table just next to it was a little boy sipping from the cup of coffee.

". . . Found it," I said pointing.

Everyone turned and looked to the door as well.

"How did you get in here?" Kurama asked.

"I bet he's been in here the whole time," Kuwabara said.

"Fibber, fibber. I came in when you opened the door. Isn't that what good little boys are supposed to do? Oops. I guess I should've knocked first," the boy giggled scratching his unruly brown hair. "I'm Rinku. I'm a part of team Rokuyukai, your first opponents tomorrow."

"Don't you think you're talking too much." There was a tall man in the corner.

"Hey Zeru. I was just saying hello to our enemies," Rinku said in a sing-song voice.

Zeru looked over to me and leered. "You must be the detective."

"That's what they call me," I said.

"If you're the detective why is that you're an alternate and your assistant captain?" Zeru asked.

"I'm letting the boys handle my light work," I said.

"How do I know you're not just scared?" Zeru asked.

"Scared of what? Of you?" I asked. "Look, I may not be captain of this team, but it's still my team and I don't really take too kindly to you coming in here and harassing them. And I'm sure it's poor etiquette as well. But it certainly says something you being here."

"And what is that?" Zeru asked.

"You must really suck to come in here and resort to scare tactics on us. But whatever. Just know we're the ones you really have to be afraid of," I said.

Zeru leered us again.

"Tomorrow, you and your team will strongly be resembling that coffee cup," Zeru said.

Suddenly, the cup on the table split in half and coffee spilled everywhere.

I used my mind and opened the door.

"Now that you've made a mess, please get out," I said. "Take your half-assed intimidation tactics with you."

Zeru rounded up Rinku and left.

"You handled that rather well," Kurama said.

"Better than Urameshi would've," Kuwabara said.

"I'm more of a people person than Yusuke is," I said.

"And you barely do that right," Hiei replied as he cleaned off the table.

"People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, Hiei," I said.

"Whatever," he replied.

888

I was surprised to be the first one up the next morning. I supposed it was better that way. I'd want my rest if I knew people were going to be trying to kill me all day too.

At first I thought it was going to be awful sharing a room with five boys (well, four boys and Genkai who the others assumed was a boy), but it wasn't all that bad. Sure Yusuke randomly relived his training in the middle of the night and Kuwabara snored like a train, but Hiei, Kurama, and Genkai were all silent.

I successfully navigated my way through the sea of rollaway beds to the bathroom to shower without waking anyone.

Everything from the boat to checking in had gone smoothly. I should have expected things to go awry that morning.

As soon as I stepped out of the shower and reached for a towel the bathroom door swung open.

Kuwabara was frozen to the spot for a moment.

"KUWABARA! GET OUT!" I shouted.

He quickly retreated apologizing profusely as he closed the door.

"Did you forget how to knock or something?" I shouted through the door as I dressed quickly.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know anyone was in there!" Kuwabara said.

"What on earth are you two shouting about?" Kurama asked, sounding as if he was just waking up.

"I might've accidentally, you know, walked in on Kairi naked," Kuwabara muttered.

"Idiot," Hiei said.

I walked out the bathroom and punched Kuwabara square in his arm.

"You nimrod," I said.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to!" he said. "I don't know what you're so mad about. Not like you have anything to be ashamed of."

I went to swing at Kuwabara but Kurama quickly pulled me away from him.

"It probably wouldn't be wise to injure him considering he'll probably be needed to fight in a few hours," Kurama said.

"Yeah, I'll bet," I said. I plopped down onto the couch. "It's going to be a long tournament.

888

"I can't believe he's still asleep," Kuwbara complained as we waited to be called onto the field for the first fight against team Rokuyukai. He was carrying sleeping Yusuke on his back.

"Maybe if you'd seen the way Genkai trains you'd understand," I said. "I don't quite understand how he managed to go straight from training with her for six months to fighting a Saint Beast."

"I just hope he wakes up when he times approaches," Kurama said.

"Who knows, if you guys can win three fights all on your own then it won't matter will it?" I asked. "And I have faith in you."

"Most of us," Hiei said.

Kuwabara leered at Hiei but didn't have enough to retort as we were called onto the field by in ring announcer, Koto.

"And now for this year's guests, Team Urameshi!" she shouted.

We walked out into the stadium where thousands of demons were booing us.

"What a nice way to treat the special team. Looks like some of these demons didn't take their grumpy pills this morning," Kuwabara said.

"I agree. It certainly isn't pleasant being called a traitor by creatures I've never met," Kurama said.

We climbed into the ring where Rinku, Zeru, and the rest of team Rokuyukai stared us down.

"The terms of the first match will be decided by the leaders of the team leaders. Of course if an agreement cannot be reached we will default to one on one fights determining the winning team by the most number of wins," Koto said.

"Great, except our captain is out of it," Kuwabara said.

"Well then that makes you temporary leader," I said.

"Me? Not you? You're the detective," he said.

"Yeah, I'm just an alternate. I'm less than a person today," I said.

"Mom I don't wanna go to school today. . . Make Kuwabara be the leader in the stupid tournament. . . Where's my green jacket?" Yusuke muttered to himself in his sleep.

"Well if that's not a transfer of power I don't know what is!" Kuwabara cheered.

He walked up to Zeru.

"I don't care about the terms. The outcome will still be the same," he said.

"Why don't we do this man-to-man, that's what real men do," Kuwabara said.

"There you have it folks! One-on-one!" Koto exclaimed.

As Kuwabara started to walk back to us, Zeru's energy spiked suddenly and then began emitting flames from his body.

"Intimidation seems to be this guy's niche," I said.

Kurama nodded in agreement. "We had better be careful with this one, Hiei."

Zeru shot out a flame that encircled us and the traveled behind us and up into the crowd, incinerating anyone in the path of the flames.

"I'm guessing that happens a lot here," I said. Hiei nodded.

"Well, everyone seems pretty quiet after that, but you know, that's half the fun," Koto said. She'd retreated from the ring when Zeru flamed up and was now taking her place back inside of it. "Teams, send in your fighters."

Rinku was the first to step back into the ring.

"This little punk is mine," Kuwabara said as he headed back to the ring as well.

"I sure hope that fool knows what he's doing," Hiei said.

"Agreed," I said.


	5. Round One

It came as no surprise, merely a disappointment, when Rinku kicked Kuwabara in the face to begin the match.

"He's fast," I said.

"And agile too," Kurama said. "This will not be easy for Kuwabara."

Rinku began to taunt Kuwabara, flipping around the ring in circles around him, quicker than Kuwabara could keep up.

"Kuwabara always pulls through when he's in a bind, except with Rando of course," I said.

"Rando?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah, but in Kuwabara's defense he was only six inches tall at the time. This is nothing like that," I said.

"Who was six inches tall—Rando or Kuwabara?" Kurama asked.

"Probably Rando," Hiei remarked.

"It was Kuwabara, asshole. Nearly every bone in his body was broken, and when Yusuke almost died fighting Rando, Kuwabara's soul floated out of his body and told Yusuke to pull through and he did," I said.

". . . I definitely think you just made up," Hiei said incredulously.

"Well it happened, shrimp," I said. "The point is, Kuwabara can do this. I know he can."

And Kuwabara did, noticing that Rinku was leaving a trail behind he punched him clear across the ring.

"It looks like our training has improved him, Hiei," Kurama said. "It seems as though Kuwabara is a fighter whose skill can only be measured in the ring."

"True, all the same, he's not prepared for these fights. He should put his stupid honor aside and knock the boy while he's down," Hiei said.

And again, that's what Kuwabara did. He went into for his last attack while Rinku was falling to ground from the pummeling that he'd just received, but just as Kuwabara went in for the kill, Rinku moved.

"Oh, no," I said.

Rinku came from behind Kuwabara and kicked him right in the face, practically breaking Kuwabara's neck.

Kuwabara went down and Koto started her count.

"And how do you expect him to get out of this?" Hiei asked.

"Not dead is the only result I'm looking for right now," I said.

The crowd was cheering, roaring, screaming for Rinku.

"We should just count the fool as dead and start planning for the next match," Hiei said.

I groaned. "Unless you have something positive to say, keep your mouth shut."

"Look—he's getting up," Kurama said.

Indeed, Kuwabara was climbing to his feet.

"You were wrong; my neck's not broken, punk," Kuwabara said.

Rinku's eyes narrowed on Kuwabara and a mischievous smirk over took his face.

"Then I guess we'll have to fix that won't we?" Rinku asked.

"They both greatly underestimate each other," Kurama said. "I believe the first to realize this will win."

"At any rate it's an entertaining fight," Hiei said.

I rolled my eyes. He probably only saying that because Kuwabara had been getting pummeled. Still, it was as close to a compliment as Kuwabara was ever going to get out of Hiei on his behalf.

Rinku reached into his green satchel and pulled out yellow yoyos with little stars in the middle.

"Toys?" I asked, looking over to Kurama.

"One thing you should remember about this tournament, Kairi, is that nothing is ever as it seems," he said.

Rinku's energy started to raise as he held the yoyos in between his fingers.

"Looks like you're not holding back anymore, so neither will I!" Kuwabara declared. And with that he whipped out not one, but two spirit swords.

Rinku jumped up into the air and tossed out the yoyos at Kuwabara head on. Kuwabara swung at the yoyos with his sword but suddenly, the toys diverted from the normal path, avoided the sword and hit Kuwabara directly.

"Yes, of course! The strings are alive!" Kurama said.

"You don't think I'd toss ordinary toys around do you? When I toss the yoyos out, my spirit energy goes into them, kind of like they're a part of me. You trying to cut them down with your sword is like trying to catch snakes barehanded," Rinku explained.

This was just like Kuwbara's spirit sword, using something else as a means to manifest his energy physically, except the last time I checked, Kuwabara wasn't nearly so skilled with his sword that he could bend it the way Rinku moved his yoyos.

Rinku spun his yoyos after Kuwabara who, in a desperate attempt to stop them, started tossing up pieces of the ring to slow them down, but to no avail. The yoyos chewed through the stone like a group of hungry termites on a two-by-four.

The yoyos hit Kuwbara and as they did, they wrapped themselves around his feet and arms.

Rinku tossed him into the air and then slammed him down onto the ground.

"I told you Kuwabara's training wouldn't enough for the tournament. We'd best assume him dead and start planning for the next fight," Hiei said for the second time.

"No, there are still some techniques he hasn't tried," Kurama said reassuringly.

"At least _someone_ has some faith," I said leering at Hiei.

"It's not my fault he's an idiot," he remarked.

Rinku took Kuwabara and raised him into the air, except this time he went higher and higher and higher until he was at the top of the arena.

"I'll let you use your imaginations for what will happen if that human's frail body smashes against the hard stone ground of the arena floor!" Koto cheered.

My stomach twisted itself into a knot. How had this happened? We were so prepared for this. No one was supposed to die.

"Yusuke you idiot! How can you be sleeping when one of your friends is in trouble with these nasty demons! Get off your lazy butt and help him!"

I stopped and turned around to see Kayko and Shizuru sitting in the audience with Botan.

"What. . . What. . . What the hell are they doing here?" I asked scratching my head.

"They're your useless friends," Hiei said.

"Go be an asshole somewhere else," I said brushing him off as the girls appeared ringside.

"Hang tight, Kuwbara! I don't suppose you can fly?" Botan shouted up to him.

"Oh, hey Botan! And Kayko! And Sis! I'd give you a better greeting but I'm kinda busy right now!" Kuwabara said.

"Idiot," Hiei remarked.

I merely sighed. It was getting tough to defend Kuwabara when he wasn't doing much to prove me wrong.

The crowd erupted into cheers, egging Rinku on, anxious to see Kuwabara smack the ground and die.

Then, pop. The yoyos came off and Kuwabara barreled towards the ground. I wanted to close my eyes and look away. The last thing I wanted to see was my best friend get splattered all over the ground but my eyes weren't moving. They just followed him as he fell faster and faster and faster until—

"Spirit Sword get longer!" he cried.

He held his hands out in front of him and summoned his spirit sword, cushioning his fall and flinging himself towards Rinku.

I squealed with delight and a little jig. Kuwabara wasn't as big of an idiot as Hiei was making him out to be. He did have a chance. It seemed Kuwabara's true skill could only show through when he was in a bind.

"That's a neato trick you got there, using your spirit sword as a reverse bungee cord, the only problem is I can attack you real easy now that you're coming straight at me," Rinku declared. He wasted no time sending out another barrage of yoyos to Kuwabara.

Kuwabara pulled up his spirit sword again and thrusts it toward Rinku. He starts to dodge and Kuwabara proves his worth even more.

The sword moved and twisted and bent, snaking through Rinku's yoyos like a rat in a maze.

The yoyos struck Kuwabara and the sword struck Rinku, both hits were dead on and both of them were knocked out of the ring.

"Was that the purpose of your training with him?" Hiei asked Kurama.

"Pretty much. It was just to teach him precise control of his sword," Kurama said.

"You are amazing for it," I said tackling my cousin with a hug. "Do you think he'll get back up?"

"It's hard to say, both the yoyos and the sword made solid hits. I'd be surprised if either of them got up," Kurama said.

"I guess we'll see," Hiei said.

"Get up! You're late!. . . Kuwabara. . ." Yusuke muttered in his sleep.

"We are sure he's sleeping right?" I asked. Kurama nodded.

"Well. . . It looks like both fighters landed outside of the ring. . . At the _exact_ same time," Koto said. "The rules state that when a fighter lands outside of the ring they have ten counts to get back in so I'll start the count. One! Two! Three! Four! Five!"

Rinku was the first back on his feet and to climb back into the ring, but he was injured.

"Get up there, Kuwabara! I know you're used to losing but not now," Yusuke said.

This was really starting to make me doubt whether or not my best friend was asleep.

"Six!" Koto continued as Kuwabara hopped to his feet.

"What did you say!" he shouted.

"Six, Kuwabara. You have four counts to get in the ring," Koto said.

"Not you!" he said. He stomped over to Yusuke and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"You wanna say that to my face punk?" he asked shaking him, but Yusuke was still out of it. "Ah, so you're pretending to be asleep then, huh?"

"Seven! And eight!" Koto went on.

"Hey! I'm coming on hold on!" Kuwabara pleaded, dropping Yusuke to the ground.

"Oh, man. I can't take this guy right now," Rinku whined.

At that, the yoyos still attached to Kuwabara wound themselves around him and held him taught right where he stood.

"Nine!" Koto counted.

"Let go of me you stupid yoyo strings!" Kuwabara whined. But it was in vain. The ten count was called. Kuwabara toppled over on the ground and the first point of the tournament went to Team Rokuyukai.

This was not an impressive way to start off the tournament. Kuwabara came off as an idiot and had just lost to a boy with yoyos. We were going to be a joke.

"Hey you little punk! I'm not done with you!" Kuwabara shouting jumping back into the ring.

Rinku ran out of the ring to his team's side of the field against the wall.

"What? Do you run on batteries or something?" Rinku asked. "Please just go away! Leave me alone!"

I'd almost forgotten about Kuwbara's honor code—until he wasn't able to fight or came out victorious (usually the former) he was going to keep on fighting.

"Kuwabara," I called, "you're going to have to let this go for now. Sorry."

Kuwabara looked back at me and then to Rinku. "You're gonna get yours, punk!"


	6. Hiei Is Unhelpful

_[A/N: Shamefully I admit this has been written since March and I thought I posted it only to look and see that I hadn't! I am a failure. My deepest apologies.]_

Koto stood impatiently in the ring looking from us to Team Rokuyukai.

"Alright, already! Will you guys please send in your next fighters?" she asked twitching her nose.

From Team Rokuyukai a tall, gray demon dressed in black boots and a trench coat stepped into the ring, Roto. I could tell from here that his skills were, at best, mediocre. Even his spirit energy wasn't anything to get excited about.

"I'll handle this one," Kurama said confidently, as always. He climbed into the ring.

"Kurama," Hiei said. Kurama turned and looked back at him. "Considering the circumstances we can't afford any more mistakes. Don't leave the ring with him still alive."

"Naturally," Kurama said turning back to Roto.

Then Hiei turned to Kuwabara.

"We'll handle the rest of their team. You just relax," he said. He almost didn't sound like he was insulting him for once.

"I'm not done yet," Kuwbara said. "If Urameshi doesn't wake up, I'll take the last guy."

"We'll pray it doesn't come to that," Hiei said.

For once, I actually agreed with him.

"All right, boys, I'm here!" Botan said walking over to us.

"Leave, before you hurt yourself," Hiei said.

"Well that's a jolly thing to say to someone who's going to help you," Botan said, placing her hands on her hips.

"You mean you're like the replacement fighter for Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked.

"Right, because the Masked Fighter and I aren't standing here and totally don't count," I replied.

"Sheesh, sorry," Kuwabara said.

"Kairi's right. I'm not the replacement," she said. She pulled her orange kimono off and stood in brown slacks, red suspenders and a yellow button down. "In addition to being assistant to the Spirit Detectives and pilot of the River Styx, I'm also a licensed trainer. I'll be making sure you stay in tip-top shape for the tournament."

"Oh, good then maybe you can help me out with this injury here," Kuwabara said undoing his shirt. But Botan had already dashed over to Yusuke and attempted to wake him.

"It's no use—the boy is determined," Hiei said.

"Well, at least let me get him out of the way," Botan said taking Yusuke by the feet and dragging him away from the ring.

We all turned our attention back to the ring.

"So, the Rose Whip Kurama carries must be ten feet long. Where does he stash it all? All of the places I can think of sound painful," Kuwabara said.

"Kurama simply carries a normal rose. By manipulating it with his spirit energy it transforms into a whip," Hiei explained.

After Koto declared the start of the match, Roto started mumbling off something to Kurama who stared at him, disinterested.

Roto drew his arm back, finally, a long blade grew from it. He charged Kurama swinging every which way and Kurama dodged every blow gracefully.

"This round is a joke. It's a pity you couldn't have taken him and let Kurama deal with the boy and his yo-yos," Hiei said.

"Hey! I just got cheated is all!" Kuwabara said defensively. I suppose he was right but there was really no way to tone down the humiliation of losing that first match.

In no time at all, Kurama went in to make his final blow, but Roto said something to him. Kurama suddenly looked horrified. Roto turned and slashed him right across the cheek.

"Whoa! What just happened? I thought you said this one was in the bag," Kuwabara said.

"It should be," I said scratching my head. Something Roto said must've freaked him. Then again Kurama wasn't one to be easily spooked. Roto reached into his jacked and fished out a little black controller with a tiny red button on it. I looked over to Hiei. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"You probably would if you paid better attention," he said.

"Can't you just tell me?" I asked him.

Instead of answering me he instead pointed to his lips and then to the ring, instructing me to be quiet.

"You know, it's not like I've got a third eye on my forehead and can just _know_ things like you," I said.

"My jagan allows me to do the exact same thing you can do," Hiei said.

"But better," I said. "As for me, to just _know_ what's on peoples' minds involves in a serious invasion of privacy and I know better than to go snooping around in Kurama's brain because he'd kick my ass and there's no way in hell I'd ever look into Roto's head."

Hiei went to answer me, but Kurama then proceeded to take a pebble from the ground and throw it at Roto.

Roto proceeded to throw a fit at Kurama who then put his hands behind his back.

I looked to Hiei again. "Weird."

"What?"

"The pebble throwing. It was weird. I felt like a thousand tiny red flags went up in my brain as he did," I said.

Roto proceeded to hold his leg up off the ground and said something that definitely had something to do with Kurama licking his boots.

"Oh! Lip reading! That what you meant! You weren't telling me to be quiet," I said.

"But now I am—be quiet," Hiei said.

I ignored Hiei and looked back to the ring.

Kurama had brought his hands from behind his back and dusted himself off, telling Roto to press the button. Roto seemed crazed by that idea. He said he'd really push the button if Kurama told him to. That Kurama was just like all the other demons in the stadium and not human at all. That he'd really kill his own mother.

"Wait? What?" I asked. Hiei shushed me again. "Ugh! You're useless, Hiei!"

Roto raised his hand to push the button but froze. Kurama walked over to him, knocked the button from his hand and stomped it into pieces on the ground.

And that's when I saw it, a tiny little leaf growing out of Roto's chest.

Kurama explained that he'd used the pebble as a distraction to plant the seed of the death plant inside of Roto and that it had now had enough time to take root.

Rot begged and begged for mercy, but Kurama was not at all merciful.

Before my very eyes, Roto grew and grew in a large bush covered in many varieties of dazzling flowers.

Kurama walked out of the ring and came over to us.

". . . You just keep getting' weirder don't you?" I asked.

He smiled at me and then turned to Hiei.

"Don't worry about his partner. He vanished as soon as Roto died," Hiei explained.

"What was that all about anyway?" Botan asked.

"Nothing important. I'll tell you later," Kurama said.

"Well. . . Good job. . . Weirdo," I said giving him a pat on the back.


	7. Dragon of the Darkness Flame

_[A/N: Fighting, as I've previously said, is not my forte, but I'm learning. Thank you for sticking around while I learn this! Next chapter to follow VERY soon!]_

Zeru looked less than pleased as they hauled Roto the flower bush out of the ring. He was fuming, visibly steaming on the other side of the arena.

"He can't really be surprised that Roto lost can he?" I asked.

"I think we were severely underestimated and now he's taking it badly," Kurama said.

"I told him we came to kick ass. He may just be here to win the prize at the end but there are people's lives on the line on our side. Our will to win is much greater," I said.

"Not to mention they're all a bunch of wussies!" Kuwabara shouted.

"Didn't you lose your fight?" Hiei asked.

"Watch it little man, or you'll be next," Kuwabara threatened.

"Enough of this foolishness," Zeru said stepping into the ring.

"This is unprecedented," Kurama said. "You'd think he'd want to wait to fight Yusuke himself."

"No matter. This one's been bugging me since last night," Hiei said jumping into the ring.

"I know that feeling. I hope Hiei annihilates this guy," I said.

"Still, I'm concerned," Kurama said.

"Why? Because Zeru is captain and he's going out of turn?" I asked.

"To be simple about it, yes," Kurama said.

"But if Zeru's the captain and Hiei beats him then the other two guys won't be much of a problem will they?" Kuwabara asked.

"That's what worries me," Kurama said. "If Zeru is the captain then it stands to reason that he is the strongest member of their team." 

"You don't think Hiei can handle Zeru?" I asked.

"I'm sure Hiei will be fine. What troubles me is that Zeru would walk into a battle like this against someone like Hiei knowing he could very well lose. He'd be leaving his own team to flounder and die," Kurama said.

"But these are all good things right? It just means Zeru is an idiot," I said.

"Or maybe it means we're missing something," Kurama said. "You don't get to be captain of a team by being an idiot, Kairi."

". . . I'm sorry. You have actually met Yusuke before haven't you?" Botan asked.

"Touché," Kurama replied with a nod.

"I know a great deal about your technique," Hiei said to Zeru. "I noticed last night when you melted that cup in half. Your manipulation of the heat energy was so precise it resembled a knife cut. . . But then I saw that the edges had been melted rather sloppily. You have your flaws."

"As do you. I don't think I need to be taking advice from someone who has a fake eye," Zeru remarked.

"Well, that's one way to make Hiei angry," Kurama said.

Zeru engulfed himself in flames and sent it spewing out from his body, lashing at Hiei who continued to stand there and stare at him as if he weren't. Since Hiei remained unimpressed, Zeru kicked the fire up a notch, sending it flying out of the ring towards us and subsequently into the stands, torching several members of the fan base.

Once he'd had his fun, Zeru materialized the fire in his hand and launched it at Hiei. Hiei dodged each attack, jumping further and further out of reach of Zeru until he stood at the top of the stadium. With another blast, Zeru hit the top of the stadium sending mountains of concrete onto even more observers, but Hiei landed neatly back in the ring.

Zeru was scorching, almost amused by the fact that he couldn't touch Hiei.

After Hiei confessed his boredom with Zeru's monotonous attacks, Zeru launched flames from his body 100 feet into the air, but Hiei remained still.

Zeru then absorbed the fire and he turned from slightly tan to glowing red hot.

And then it happened—he nailed Hiei with one swift hit to the chest, setting him on fire and tossing him back into the air. To add insult to injury, he set Hiei ablaze again. He then fell to ground, in a smoldering heap.

"Wow, Zeru, you never told us you could be so ruthless! I love it!" Koto cheered.

I shook my head. "That. . . That didn't just happen. I mean it's Hiei. . . I mean it's _Hiei_. He doesn't die. He especially doesn't let cocky motherfuckers like Zeru kill him by setting him on fire."

"I think you may be right," Kurama said. "Let us see."

"Well, that fight wasn't a long one but when you've got hot moves like Zeru's a little goes a long way!" Koto cheered.

And then Kurama was proved correct. Hiei, still on fire got to his feet. Zeru stopped walking dead in his tracks.

"Yes, he's so talented I'm almost reluctant to make the kill," Hiei said.

"WHOA! Hiei's alive and he's. . . Smoldering," Koto said unsurely.

Hiei wasn't just back on his feet and on fire, but he was also packing a lot of Spirit Energy. He was pissed.

"The fire. . . How did you survive?" Zeru asked.

"We've already been over that. So my Jagan eye may not be natural but it does give me exactly what I need!" he said. "Dragon of the Darkness Flame."

"He's going to attempt the darkness technique!" Kurama exclaimed.

"And that is what?" I asked.

Kurama didn't answer, and he didn't have time to. The sky turned dark, flames of darkness erupted from around the island. Black surges of electricity zapped here and there.

"It's impossible to control it completely. Once I realease it I have no say," Hiei said. "I have the power to obliterate you. I assume just my right arm will do. You shouldn't have insulted the jagan eye. In a way it has a mind of its own and loathes disrespect. Resistance is futile."

Zeru was frozen in fear.

"I know I'm supposed to stay but considering the circumstances retreat!" Koto said jumping out of the ring.

And then Hiei fired it. A wave of black fire erupted at his feet and from his right arm a black dragon raced toward Zeru, taking hold him. It was massive and even though it wasn't directed at me, I was fearful.

The attack was over in an instant and a suffocating silence fell over the crowd.

"He. . . Succeeded," Kurama said.

"Where's Zeru?" Koto inquired.

That caused me to look. Against the back wall of the stadium was a black imprint of Zeru.

"Well there's his outline at least," Koto said. "Well he's definitely out of the ring."

"Believe me, he's not coming back," Hiei said. "That cinders' all that's left."

"Right. . . Then I suppose counting to ten would be a little ridiculous," Koto said. "Let's give it up for Hiei."

For a moment there was silence, but even the crowd gave way and broke into cheers.

"That was incredible!" Kuwabara said. "Hiei could beat anyone with that attack. . . Oh, my God! What if he tries to use that dragon on us?"

"Don't worry. I've entered into an alliance with you and I'm not the type to break it. Although I can't make any promises after the tournament," he said.

He jumped out of the ring and I still stood there stunned, trying to think of the last time I'd seen an attack that incredible. I felt like I should be on my knees bowing to him because of how glorious it was.

My daydreaming about the attack was interrupted by the sound of broken glass on the other side of the ring.

I looked to see a very tall and muscular mad with blue hair pulled back into a pony tail trying, rather unsuccessfully to climb into the ring. Rinku seemed to know the man while the rest of us watched the idiot fall down two or three times before actually succeeding.

"Is he. . . Drunk?" I asked.

"It seems to be that way," Botan said.

"Hey announcer Sheila, you look pretty hot! Come here! I have a question for you!" he commanded.

Koto cautiously walked over to the man.

"Two of their fellas just died on accident," the man said motioning back to where Team Rokuyukai used to be. "How can they continue?"

"It doesn't matter how many of their team members die, they're allowed only one alternate. Team Rokuyukai can continue with Rinku and one alternate," Koto said.

"YES!" the man cheered excitedly jumping to his feet before collapsing down to the ground and forcing Koto into a hug.

He then got up and stumbled around a bit.

"This guy is a lot weaker than Zeru but he still rubs me the wrong way," Kuwabara said.

"What are you worried about? He's the alternate fighter and he's a lush," Botan said.

"I wouldn't write him off either, Botan," I said. "There is something off about this guy. I mean, he just killed his two teammates and I didn't sense his energy, like, at all."

"Let's go! I wanna get in a little romp before my fun wears off," he shouted.

"Well who's gonna take him? It hasn't been very long since any of us fought our matches," Kuwabara said.

"Chu seems extremely impatient," Koto said.

"What about the Masked Fighter," I pointed out.

"Oh! Right! Little dude it's your turn!" Kuwabara said. "Unless we can get Urameshi to wake up."

We all turned to where he was sleeping, but he was gone.

We then turned back to the ring just in time to see Yusuke landing inside of it ready for a fight.

"That was unexpected," Kuwabara said.

"Waking up to the smell of alcohol. I can't help but feel a touch of home," Yusuke said with a yawn. "Hey all you stupid demons! I've tried to sleep through your dumb trash talk long enough and now I'm ready to kick some ass!"

I rolled my eyes.

"You sleep for almost 24 hours and you wake up acting like a jackass?" I asked.

"I don't know why you're upset, Kairi. I just woke up from sleeping for almost 24 hours and then you have the audacity to call me a jackass," he said.

"I bet you can't even spell audacity," I said.

"Yeah, I can. It's spell a-u-shut-the-fuck-up," he said. I flipped him off.

"Are you sure you can take this guy after your nap, _captain_?" I asked.

"Yeah, yeah," he said stretching. "I always get some light exercise in the morning, _partner_."

Yusuke walked up to Chu and the crowd went wild chanting "kill Yusuke" repeatedly.

"Sheesh. I've never heard so many voices hate someone so much," Kuwabara said.

"Well, obviously. I mean, Yusuke's my partner now. Demons aren't too fond of the Spirit Detectives. Especially since he's done so much in such a short time. He's like the boogey man to him," I said.

"Well, I guess he has killed a lot of their bad guy role models, but why didn't they scream kill me?" Kuwabara asked.

"Probably because you lost," Botan said.

"Hey! They didn't know I was going to lose before the match!" Kuwabara said.

". . . Hang on a second. I forgot something," Chu said. He stepped the side a bit and was suddenly back by Koto his microphone in hand.

"Well, now," I said. "The after image technique. He's fast. Yusuke had better be careful."

Chu cleared his throat.

"Right. Basically, I'm a really ace person and the only thing I suck at is paper-rock-scissors," Chu announced.

There was silence.

"Uh. . . I think what he means is that earlier this morning the Rokuyukai teams decided on roster by playing paper-rock-scissors and Chu became the alternate, but he wants you to forget all of that because he is number one!" Koto announced.

"YES!" Chu cheered.

"No need to thank me. That's what I'm here for!" Koto said.

"Right! I'm really strong! Do you understand what I'm trying to say to you?" Chu said.

"Yeah, I do," Yusuke said tossing his jacket off to the ground. "You were scared to fight me before and now you're blaming it on some game."

"And here we go," I said. "Classic Yusuke."

"No! Didn't you hear what Foxy was saying?" Chu asked.

_"Come on! This new fighter is a pathetic drunk!"_ someone in the crowd exclaimed.

Chu froze and turned in their direction. Immediately he ran out and found them, shaking them violently, screaming at him inaudibly. He finally jumped out of the stands, taking some poor guys bottle of vodka with him.

"I no longer feel embarrassed by Yusuke," I said.

"Indeed," Kurama agreed.

"Come on! At least let me stretch my muscles," Yusuke complained.

"Oh, I see what it is," Chu slurred. "You think I can't fight either. Well I'll have you know that I am the master of Drunken Fighting" He guzzled down the entire bottle and threw it aside. "Suiken technique. That's the official name I think. You get distracted by my regular moves. CRAP! It's bright out here."

"Well I learned from school seminars that drunk driving kills. Maybe drunk fighting is the same thing," Kuwabara said. I face palmed myself. "Is that wrong?"

"Very," I replied. "It's an actual technique. You use alcohol to just, you know, loosen you up a bit. Takes a lot of practice to know how much alcohol you have to drink in order to get in a good state to fight and not to get too smashed."

"You've tried it before?" Kuwabara asked.

"No. But any fighter with half a brain has heard of it before," I said.

"So the tipsy fighting thing is a little weird but I've heard of it before. You're gonna need a little more than that to impress me. I didn't come all this way just to babysit a drunk," Yusuke said.

"You could've done that at home," I said.

"Damn right," Yusuke said, air-fiving me.

"You won't be saying that once I get into my grove. Of course I've got to stumble into it first," Chu said.

And then he began, stumbling backward away from Yusuke. Even though he still seemed completely wasted, there was something smooth about the way he moved.

Yusuke was going to need to be careful.


	8. The Drunken Master

_[A/N: Shut the front door. An actual chapter that's an acceptable length with a fight scene in it posted in a timely manner. The world must be ending or something! P.S. If you catch the Dragon Ball Z Abridged reference I make, you are my new best friend.]_

The crowd was screaming and cheering loudly. In the ring, Chu and Yusuke were staring each other down and Koto seemed almost unable to contain her elation at the mounting anticipating for the battle.

Lightning flashed in the sky bringing an ominous feeling over the stadium.

"Ever so slowly the stadium is calming down. The same can almost be said for Chu, the look in his previously glazed over eyes could almost be called, sober," Koto said.

"This isn't going to be easy," I said.

"Yeah, I hear ya," Kuwabara said.

"You know, I heard lot's about you. . . But I think you're a scared little kid who gets lucky," Chu said. That just made Yusuke angry. "Now, now. You need to loosen up a bit there."

"Let the fight begin!" Koto announced.

Chu finally released his spirit energy.

"I've never sensed spirit energy like this before," Kurama said.

Chu began to move around the ring in a circle around Yusuke.

"Whoa! He's fast!" Kuwabara said.

"And notice how he moves so fluidly," Kurama said.

"And his speed only adds to the problem. Good luck trying to hit him," Hiei said.

When Chu finally went in for the attack, Yusuke blocked his first punch but he'd left himself open, leaving Chu more than able to give Yusuke five quick blows to the stomach before popping up behind him and giving him one last one right in the back.

After Koto put it up on the slow motion replay on the big screen so everyone could see what had happened, Yusuke popped back up on his feet ready to go again. He kept throwing punches, but Chu was still way too fast for him. Whenever he even got close to hitting Chu, he was always blocked. Chu then would go in for a hit. Yusuke blocked the initial one again, but took a fist to the face right afterward.

Chu was pummeling him, but Yusuke kept at it even if he wasn't getting anywhere.

"Try using your feet or your elbows! He wouldn't expect that!" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"Kuwabara do me a favor and shut the hell up!" Yusuke shouted at him, before landing a blow right to Chu's face, sending down to the ground.

But the victory was short lived. Chu was up and behind Yusuke before we could blink and delivered a back breaking blow to Yusuke's back, knocking him out of the ring to the ground, making his eat several feet of dirt before finally smashing into the stadium wall. Buried in a pile of rubble.

After canoodling with Chu, Koto started her count. When she got to nine, Yusuke unearthed himself and hopped back into the ring.

"That was close," Yusuke said. "I could've been killed if I didn't guard myself."

"The old see it coming and block with the shoulder trick! What a champ, right?" Kuwabara cheered.

"I still think he needs to learn Piccolo's number one rule of fighting," I said.

"What's that?" Kuwabara asked.

"Dodge!" I said smacking him upside the head.

"One wrong move and I'm pushing daisies, right?" Yusuke asked. "This whole life or death thing though. . . I'm starting to like it."

"No risk, no reward," I said.

The Yusuke held up his trusty right index finger and it began to glow blue. Then, he shifted his hand over slightly and fired at the roof of the stadium sending debris raining down on the crowd.

I face palmed myself. Now was not the time to be wasting energy.

"That was my Spirit Gun. You'd better get to know it. I've got three of these bad boys left and one could probably kill you. It wasn't too long ago that I could only fire one of these a day, but I was just so scrawny back then," Yusuke said.

"If only he'd gotten a little less stupid since then," I said.

"Well you've got your secret move and I've got mine," Chu said sneaking his hand behind his back. "Watch me carefully. It's complicated." He pulled a flask out from behind his back. "This is the strongest alchie ever made. It's called 'Ogre Killer'."

"Oh, yeah! That stuff's strong! Take one sip of that and you'll wake up in jail the next morning wearing a sombrero in the arms of a hairy demon you really don't want to know," Koto said.

Chu took the cap off his flask and guzzling it down until it was empty.

Chu hung his head down and his aura radiated off him, spreading out over the entire stadium. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up right. His muscles tightened, his power grew and then—he ran to the edge of the ring to barf.

"What a fool," Hiei scoffed.

"Too right," I said.

When he was done he turned back to Yusuke.

"He seems to be sober again. Alcohol doesn't affect him in the normal way. It seems to serve as a catalyst," Kurama said.

"I think you should act more excited kid. After all, it's what you've been waiting for after all!" Chu said, cupping his hands together, growing a strange ball of energy inside of his hands.

"That ball of energy he's got looks a lot like Urameshi's Spirit Gun," Kuwabara said.

"And approximately equal in force," Kurama said.

"Don't you think we should tell Yusuke that!" Botan asked.

"Yusuke already knows," I said.

Chu launched the ball at Yusuke, and Yusuke fired a Spirit Gun.

The two energy balls fought for power in the center of the ring before they both dissolved away.

"It's a draw," Hiei said.

Chu and Yusuke charged each other began to punch each other into pulp.

"They're not even bothering to block those headshots," Kuwabara said.

"This is pure offense. They gave up fighting with their heads a long time ago. Now it's a matter of who can endure the most pain," Hiei said.

They continued to punch each other into mess.

Chu punched Yusuke back a few feet.

"Bad move," Kurama said as Chu powered up for another attack.

"This time he's spreading his energy into a much larger blast. It's amazing how much control he has over the size," Hiei said.

"And from the sheer volume he won't be able to block it with his Spirit Gun," Kurama said.

Chu threw the giant blast at Yusuke, but he was off balance and couldn't defend himself properly. But Yusuke still surprised us all.

He raised his finger, preparing to shoot. "Spirit Gun double!"

He shot out two Spirit Guns and launched them through Chu's blast.

The Spirit Guns connected. Chu's blast connected. There was a flash of light and when the attacks were over, both Chu and Yusuke had vanished from the ring as if they hadn't been there at all.

"Nothing! Nothing of the two warriors can be found! Not even a little pile of ashes!" Koto said. "Has the fight truly ended in a draw?"

A quick glance upward proved otherwise. Chu and Yusuke were sailing through the air, finally landing back on the ground.

"They've both burned their skin, shortened their breath and somehow lost their shirts. All together, I'd call it a successful fight," Koto said.

Chu and Yusuke went back and forth talking about how weak they were and they finally began to laugh with each other.

"They're at the end of their line. They know how this will end," Kurama said.

"In a tie?" Kuwabara asked.

"No. They'll refuse to give up," Botan said. "This determines everything."

Chu reached into his shoes and pulled out two knives.

"Let's settle this with a knife edge death match," Chu said.

"Any idea what that is, Miss-I-Know-Everything-About-Fighting?" Kuwabara asked me.

"Yes. It's where I take a knife and stab you to death and am relieved of your commentary," I said.

He stuck his tongue out at me.

"Let me take this time to remind everyone that no weapon is off limits. That includes swords, axes, small rodents. . ." Koto started listing. Chu then stabbed the knives into the ground—one behind himself, the other behind Yusuke. "How odd that Chu would stab those knives into the ground instead of Yusuke. I say it's odd because last I checked the ground doesn't bleed nearly as much as a person."

"Take off your shoes and put your foot in front of the knife," Chu said.

Yusuke did as instructed and lined himself up with Chu.

"The edge of that knife is the edge of your world. That's the only rule. You step outside that line and it's sudden death and I mean _death._ And we fight with our bodies. No weapons. The winner is the last bloke standing," Chu said.

"I think I can handle that," Yusuke said.

"Uhm, sorry, but it's really not up to you. We have a reputable tournament committee who gets paid to make these decisions," Koto said.

"So if there's no weapons allowed, then does that mean Yusuke can't fire his spirit gun?" Kuwabara asked.

"It doesn't matter. Yusuke's used up all of his energy," I said.

"Oh, yeah. That sucks," he replied.

"Worry not. Chu has exhausted all of his spirit power as well," Kurama said.

"Now that they're fighting with hand to hand combat it will be the one with the strongest head that survives," Hiei said.

"If that's true, Yusuke's got this in the bag," I said.

We waited to hear what the tournament committee said. The crowd grew impatient and finally they vetoed it.

"Everyone please remain calm," Koto said as everyone screamed in outrage at the decision.

And then they repealed their initial decision.

The sky grew dark and the wind blew through. Lightning flashed. It grew blacker and blacker, almost as if it were nighttime.

And then the committee ruled in favor of the match.

They wasted no time pummeling each other.

"It's incredible. I've never seen anything so impressive," Kuwabara said staring at them. "Such focus. Such power. Such pain. I wish that were me in there. This isn't a fight between two guys anymore. This the stuff legends are made of."

I nodded. "I understand completely." When had I last seen a fight like this one? When I'd seen my father fight against Majinn Buu maybe?

Their feet were bleeding, you could see the pain in their eyes with each hit they took, the confidence they felt with every hit they landed. I would never forget this fight.

And then I was tackled from behind. I looked to see—

"Kayko!" Kuwabara said.

"You guys! You have to make Yusuke stop fighting!" she pleaded.

"Why would we do that?" I asked.

"Because he's your best friend and if you don't he's going to die! Again!" she said shaking me.

"Sorry, Kayko," Kuwabara said taking hold of her arms. "But that's not an option."

"Why not?" Kayko asked.

"Because, Yusuke made a promise and now everything depends on his ability to fight," Kuwabara said.

"Not too long ago, we faced off against this guy, Tuguro. He's an incredibly powerful demon. And winning this fight against Chu is like the first step to a rematch with him," I said.

"We're not really supposed to talk about it, but we don't really have a choice," Kuwabara said.

"So who won in the first fight?" Kayko asked.

"Kairi thought she'd killed him. We all did. There was no way he was getting back up after number she did on him. But we wrong. He faked it," Kuwabara said.

"So he showed back up and forced us to fight in this tournament for real. Yusuke doesn't have a choice but to eventually fight Tuguro, but honestly, I think he wants to," I said.

"And that is why we owe it to Urameshi to not step in there and save his life," Kuwabara finished.

They punched and punched and punched each other.

"This is going to end up in a draw if this keeps up like this," Kuwabara said.

"No. They're both on their last leg now. The weaker one will crumble soon," Hiei deduced.

And deduce properly he did.

Chu raised his head and went in for a head butt. Seeing this, Yusuke did as well.

Their heads connected. Neither move. We held our breath.

Chu fell to the ground.

Koto began her 10 count.

"Just goes to show you that Yusuke definitely has a harder head," I said.

When Koto finished her 10 count, she took Yusuke's hand and raised it into the air.

"Winner of the match and of the round, Team Urameshi, led by Yusuke Urameshi!" Koto shouted.

Kuwabara jumped into the ring and Kayko let out a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay?" I asked. She nodded as she slowly started to back away. "You're leaving? You're not going to stay?"

She shook her head. "I'll be around."

She dashed off the field as Chu sat up and looked at Yusuke.

"Urameshi, we had a death match, now finish it," Chu said.

Yusuke stared at him for a moment before flashing a smile.

"No. We'll fight again when you're better," Yusuke said.

Kuwabara helped him hobble out of the ring and I felt my heart warm a little bit. He reminded me off my dad. He was nearly as experienced and not nearly as close in strength, but he had spirit. And he wasn't a ruthless killer. I couldn't believe almost a year had passed since he was just some random punk beating kids up on the street. Genkai had really whipped him into shape.

The crowd was not as impressed with Yusuke's act of mercy as I was. They started screaming and shouting for him to kill Chu, that he didn't deserve to live, and Yusuke, not one who liked to take direction, had something to say about it.

"SHUT UP!" he screamed. "If any of you demons has anything to say to me, say to my face, or say it to my fist."

The crowd was silent—utterly silent after Yusuke's threat.

My eyes scanned the stadium and then I saw them at the top of the stairs. The Tuguro Brothers and a dark haired man dressed I black wearing a weird sort of mask. Yusuke spotted them two and flipped them the birdie.

"Always so charming of you, Yusuke," I said.

He smirked. "You know how much I enjoy people."

_[A/N II: And round one is done! Whew! What an ordeal? It only took, what? Over a year. Yeah. Sorry about that.]_


	9. Boobies!

_[A/N: Just a bit of post round one fun. Huzzah.]_

"I don't understand why you're so upset," Yusuke said as we moved our things into our new, larger room. After getting back to the hotel after the fight, we'd learned that they'd moved us into a bigger room because they didn't originally anticipate our team being so large, which I assumed was their way of saying they thought we'd lose the first round and the size of our room didn't matter.

I please, because a bigger room meant more space which meant a decrease in the chance that Kuwabara would see me naked again.

"Why wouldn't I be upset? Wouldn't you be upset if Kuwabara saw _you_ naked?" I asked.

"Obviously," Yusuke replied. "But it's different. You're a girl. I'd beat Kuwabara's ass if he saw me naked."

"I was going to but Kurama wouldn't let me which was moot because Kuwabara lost anyway!" I said.

"Now you're just being rude," Kuwabara said as he dropped his things on the floor.

"She's also being honest," Hiei replied.

"Indeed," I said.

"So, two rooms, three to a room," Kurama said resolving the fighting.

"Easy—you, Hiei, and the Masked Fighter, and me, Urameshi and, Kairi," Kuwabara said.

"Kuwabara, I am not sharing a room with you," I said.

"Why not?" he asked.

"You saw me naked," I said.

"So what? _I've _seen you naked," Yusuke said.

I turned and leered at him. "What?"

"Yeah—a couple of times actually," Yusuke said.

I tried to be calm. I did. "When?"

Yusuke thought for a moment. "Well, the first time was when we were 13 and I came over your house and you didn't know I was there and I walked into your room while you were getting dressed and I _swore_ I didn't see anything?"

I nodded.

"I'd totally opened the door and looked inside and closed it back before you saw me open it a second time and yell at me," he said.

"YUSUKE!" I screamed.

"What? I'm a guy. I'm programmed to look," Yusuke said. "And all of the other times I saw you was in the girls' locker room. You've actually got a pretty nice body."

"THE GIRLS' LOCKER ROOM!" I shouted lunging at him. Just as before, Kurama restrained me. "Kuwabara is an idiot. _You're_ just a pervert and I'm _so_ telling Kayko."

"The hell you are," he said.

"See if I won't. I will fly over there right now and you won't catch me because you're totally out of energy," I said.

"Okay, how about this. Kairi will share with Hiei and me that way she doesn't have to share a room with anyone who's seen her naked," Kurama said. "Agreed."

"Yeah, and that way two members of our team don't turn up dead on accident like on Rokuyukai," I said.

888

After we settled ourselves back in, Yusuke vanished to go "check on Kayko or something" and Kuwabara had gone with him. Since the room was free of idiots, I decided to give a second shower a try.

Stepping into the shower I was immediately irritated by the little window inside. I did not see the point of windows in showers. Still, I dealt.

I didn't know how I'd managed to get so filthy when I'd been standing on the sidelines. My clothes were covered in concrete dust and so was I.

As I washed my hair, I thought I felt something on the back of neck. I immediately reached back to check, but felt nothing. I turned round and saw nothing. I assumed it was just a stray piece of hair and went back to washing it. I started to rinse it out and then very distinctly felt a hand on my back. I spun around again and saw no one.

I thought I was just being paranoid, nut when I turned round again I saw a sickly gray hand and a gray face with straggly black hair atop it sticking out of the window, smiling deviously at me.

I didn't give the Elder Tuguro time to speak before I launched an energy ball right into his face, smashing the window, blowing part of the shower curtain open and sending him plummeting to the ground below.

I peeked my head out the window to see the idiot running away cackling.

I rolled my eyes and turned the water off when the door burst open again.

I threw myself screaming towards a towel to cover myself as Hiei and Kurama burst in, obviously expecting danger since I'd shot off my energy, but I failed. I slipped, tumbled over the edge of the tub and having no desire flip around in the bathroom naked while my cousin and teammate watched, I grabbed the shower curtain for balance, but it snapped under my weight and I face planted, naked and wet on the floor, tangled in a shower curtain.

"What are you doing?" Hiei asked.

"What was that energy all about?" Kurama asked.

"You look ridiculous," Hiei said dropping a towel down onto my head.

"Are you okay?" Kurama asked.

"I am fine," I said. "My dignity broke the fall." I looked up at them. Hiei was looking away and Kurama was covering his eyes. I quickly pulled the towel around myself and got to my feet.

"Your face is bleeding," Hiei said. "Probably happened when you smacked it on the ground."

"I hate you," I replied putting my hand up to my nose as it leaked blood. A Saiyan, breaking her nose by tripping out of the shower and smacking it on the ground—Vegeta would kick my ass if he could see me now.

"What happened?" Kurama asked.

"Elder Tuguro was creeping on me in the window so I shot him in the face. Then you two ran in and I humiliated myself," I said walking out of the bathroom.

Why would he be in the window?" Kurama asked.

"To creep me out? To piss me off? I don't know. I don't care," I said.

"He's lucky you didn't kill him," Hiei said.

"I hardly exerted enough energy for that. Besides, the way that freak moves I'd never hit one of his vital organs to take him out without making him a pin cushion first," I said.

I walked into my room and pulled out some clothes.

"It was probably a warning—reminding you that they're going to try to kill one of us," Hiei said.

"Right, one of you is in extra mortal peril this time round. I almost forgot," I said. "Hopefully my investigation can wait until after I get some clothes on and fix my nose if you don't mind."

The boys walked out of the room without another words. I tossed on some clothes and went to work healing my nose as I'd done several times before.

As I sat there, hand cupped over my nose, letting my energy mend the bone back together, I realized that now that I was here and we'd survived the first round, I had to seriously consider which of my friends Tuguro was after. Yusuke seemed like the obvious choice, but Tuguro intended to fight him personally so that could've been right. There was Kuwabara who was our steadfast companion, but obviously kind of an idiot and basically harmless. That wouldn't accomplish anything. That left Hiei, Kurama and Genkai. No one knew Genkai was Genkai so that didn't make any sense, not to mention she'd been brought on after were threatened to come to the tournament. Hiei and Kurama were barely involved at all as well.

I was missing something obvious. My detective skills were awful.

888

"So you used your arms as, like, bait to lure the dragon out?" I asked examining his arm. It was charred and black. I thought it was incredible that it simply didn't fall off his body. I sat on the couch in the common area with him after Kuwabara had returned and he and Kurama retired for the night.

Hiei nodded in answer to my question.

"That's totally hardcore," I said with a nod. "Although, I must say, your arm does not look good."

"How observant of you," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "Seriously, I've never seen an injury like this, especially one that's, like, self-inflicted technically. I think your arm is, like, ruined for life."

"Tell me something I don't know," he said.

"I just didn't peg _you_ for intentionally doing something so stupid," I said. "How are you supposed to fight if you can't use your dominant arm?"

"I'll get by," he replied.

I sighed. "Spoken with so much arrogance I'd almost mistake you for a Saiyan."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"Nothing," I replied. "But, I'll be honest, I am impressed."

"Impressed?" he asked.

"Yes. I'm not usually one to admire people over their fighting prowess, but I'll admit, that dragon of yours left me breathless. It was—what's the word for it. . . Exquisite as far as attacks go," I said.

He scoffed. "Please."

"No, give yourself some credit. It was huge for starters, and dark and it struck fear in everyone—even your own team, the way it just annihilated Zeru leaving nothing behind, and the power—my Kai the power! Truly, it was magnificent," I said.

"You are so strange," he said.

"I'm not!" I said jumping to my feet. "People look at me and see I'm like five feet tall and I'm kind of pretty and sometimes kind of a bitch-?"

"Sometimes?" he asked.

"Don't interrupt me while I'm giving you a compliment," I said shaking my head. He rolled his eyes. "Seriously, I look like a girl who just knows her way around a fist, but people forget that beneath my bosom beats the heart of a Saiyan, of a warrior, a race of beings that was engineered to be the strongest alive. You, like, made me feel like a Saiyan."

"What?" he asked.

"You harnessed this amazing power and used it in this really beautiful way and I was a kid the last time I saw something like that. That was the last time I got really hyped over an attack. I feel like I have to fight you now so I can try and outdo you, take that attack and either come out ahead or die in blaze of glory. I'm intrigued and frightened of you all at once," I said.

Hiei nodded. "I get it now."

"What?" I asked.

"In Maze Castle you said that you liked knowing that someone could possibly beat you and that you liked a challenge and that's why you never trained to become more powerful unless circumstances arose that called for it, like this tournament," he said. I nodded. "It seems that you're the kind of person who doesn't truly enjoy a fight unless you also can also legitimately fear losing it."

I smiled. "The higher the risk, the bigger the reward, right? And I play for keeps, always."

"Hmm. . . I think you might be a warrior after all, Detective," he said.

"Whoa, taking compliments and dishing them out? You're like a completely different person this evening, Hiei. You'll ruin the whole dynamic of our relationship if you start speaking to me without the use of sarcasm and start treating me as if you actually respect me as a person. I mean, next thing you know you'll start treating me like I have feelings and everything," I said.

"Yes, God forbid that ever happen," he said.

I stared at him. "I can't tell if that was sarcasm or not."

"Then it seems the dynamic of our relationship remains intact," he said.

"Indeed," I said. "Goodnight, Hiei."

"Goodnight Detective," he said. I nodded and he walked back into our room to sleep.

The door to the common room opened and Yusuke walked in from the hallway.

"I hate these key cards. I can never get the door open the first time," he complained.

"Poor you," I said plopping back down on the couch. "Where were you anyway?"

". . . Not spying on Kayko?" he said.

I sighed. "Have you ever tried, you know, actually _talking_ to your girlfriend?"

"Why would I do that?" he asked.

"Right, sorry, I forgot. You're an idiot and a pervert, in which case, spying is totally the way to go," I said.

"I just had to make sure she wasn't scarred for life after today," Yusuke said. "Saw the playback of Hiei's attack. That's some scary shit."

"Well, everyone on the team is scarred by it so Kayko definitely is," I said.

"Right," Yusuke said. "Anyway, what've I missed while I was away? Did someone get attacked here or something?"

"Ah, yes. Well, I was taking a shower and apparently the Elder Tuguro climbed up the side of building and was creeping on me. So I shot him in the face. It didn't kill the creepy bastard, but it did alert Hiei and Kurama that there was trouble so. . . now all I have to do is flash the Masked Fighter and everyone on Team Urameshi will have seen my boobs," I said.

Yusuke laughed. "Your life is so much fun."

"Yeah. Kurama can't look me in the eye now because he's so embarrassed, and Hiei was so nonchalant, like, 'eh, I've seen better', which kind of offends me because I happen to think I have a very lovely rack. Right?" I asked him.

"I am not getting my ass kicked for answering that trick question," Yusuke said shaking his head. I laughed. "Speaking of him, what were you and Hiei talking about before I came in?"

"How do you know we were talking?" I asked.

"I heard you through the door while I was fighting with technology. Couldn't make out what you were saying, just your voices," he said.

"Oh, I was just complimenting him on his _Dragon of the Darkness Flame_. I was impressed," I said.

"Kairi, the last time you were impressed was when you stumbled upon the recipe for the Bacon Explosion on Google," Yusuke said. "You are unimpressionable."

"Well, no, usually I'm not, but usually people aren't summoning dragons made of hellfire into the ring," I said. "It was spectacular. You should've seen it in real life."

"Fighting skills never impress you," Yusuke said.

"Because, I'm a Saiyan and I've been a detective for so long I'm jaded. Shitty little demons can't fight like I saw Hiei do today," I said. "I never saw an attack that could make me swoon before."

Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Are you sure it's the attack that's left you swooning?"

"What else would it be?" I asked. "What else could make a person swoon?"

"Well, Kairi, I don't know if anyone has ever told you this, but sometimes girls have these things called feelings and sometimes they're directed at boys," Yusuke said.

"Don't be stupid, Yusuke. It's Hiei. He doesn't really strike you as my type does he?" I asked.

"Well, I want to say I don't know what your type is because you've been so asexual since the day I met you, but yes, I think he is," Yusuke said. "You're bossy, you're kind of a bitch, you're annoying, and you do stuff like the Dark Tournament in your spare time. Hiei is the kind of person who won't be bossed around, who'll bitch right back at you and thinks this is a typical day in the life. It's perfect."

"It is not. And you're a freak," I said hopping up from the couch. "You should go talk to your girlfriend tomorrow and stop inventing imaginary crushes for me to have on my teammates."

"I don't think I'm imagining anything," Yusuke said.

"It was a cool attack, and now I'm over it," I said throwing my hand up in defeat.

"You're over it? A minute ago you were swooning!" Yusuke said.

"Goodnight," I said going into my room and closing the door.


	10. In Which Another Problem Arises

When I woke up, both Hiei and Kurama were gone. It was anybody's guess where had gotten to this early in morning. I should've been concerned considering someone was trying to kill one of them but since the Team Tuguro was fighting today I could only hope that they'd be uninterested in us today.

I got dressed and as when I walked into the common area where Yusuke looked as though he was getting ready to leave.

"Where are you headed?" he asked me.

"To do detective type things," I said.

"I'm guessing that means you have no idea, huh?" he asked.

"Right," I said. "I'm know I' supposed to be figuring out which of you is supposed to be killed but I have literally no idea where to begin said venture."

"You can't use your amazing powers of the mind to figure it out?" Yusuke asked.

"Literally, the only person I know he's not after is the Masked Fighter," I said. "I don't think he wants to kill you _immediately_, so I also think it's unlikely that it's you."

"Well aren't I special," he said.

"What if he's actually trying to kill me and trying to figure out which of you he's trying to kill is just some elaborate ruse to throw me off the actual truth?" I suggested.

"Eh, I think that'd be over thinking it," Yusuke said.

"Yeah," I said glumly. "Well if you were Tuguro between Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara who would you kill?"

"Kuwabara," Yusuke said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because he's annoying," Yusuke said.

"That's not helpful," I said rolling my eyes.

"Maybe Tuguro thinks he's annoying too. It's not that much of a stretch," Yusuke said.

"Will you stop making jokes for one minute? One of our friends is going to be murdered I figure this out," I said. "And I need your help. You're my partner."

"Sorry, Partner, but I'm too busy trying to figure out how to stay alive," Yusuke said reaching for the door.

"You'll be fine as long as you focus when you're in the ring and avoid trouble when you're out of it," I said.

"I need to do a lot more than focus," Yusuke said opening the door. I jumped in front of him and pushed it closed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Nothing," he replied.

"You can't say vague things like that and expect me not to say anything," I said.

Yusuke rolled his eyes.

"Hey!" I snapped at him. "I'm the girl. I'm do the eye rolling around here. Now tell me what's up."

"Let me out and I will," Yusuke said.

"Do you take me for an idiot?" I asked.

"Do _you_ want me to answer that question honestly?" he asked.

I glared at him and stepped away from the door. "I hope Tuguro kills you."

Yusuke laughed and opened the door. He pulled me out into the hallway.

"I can't talk about in here. Someone might be listening," Yusuke said as he walked to the elevator.

"Someone's paranoid," I said as we stepped onto it. "I doubt they've got the hotel bugged. I'm sure everyone has better things to do than listen in on all the stuff 'the human team' is talking about."

The elevator came to the lobby and Yusuke and I walked outside.

"Will you tell me already?" I asked.

"Not until we are safely hidden inside of the forest," Yusuke said.

I groaned. "This has better be serious."

"It is," Yusuke said. "Now will you shut up and keep walking."

Yusuke was starting to get annoyed. Of course I wouldn't have been nagging him if he would just tell me what was going on.

We walked through the forest for a while, until finally he came to a stop.

"Are you going to tell me now?" I asked. He nodded. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sure you remember how incredible I was in the ring yesterday," Yusuke said.

"Yes, Mister Ego, I do," I said.

"I fired off three spirit guns and then still had enough energy leftover to nearly give Chu a coma with my fists," he said.

"Yes," I said.

"And now. . . I got nothing," he said.

"What do you mean you've got nothing?" I asked.

"No Spirit Gun. No spirit awareness. Nothing," he said.

I shook my head. "That's not good."

"No shit it's not good!" Yusuke said.

"Sorry, don't yell. I'm just concerned. You're the one that has to fight tomorrow," I said. "Has your spirit energy ever taken this long to come back?"

"I'm always ready to go after a good night's sleep," Yusuke said.

I let out a sigh. "I don't know what to tell you. I'm not a spirit energy expert. No if your chi was all run out, then I might be able to help you."

"Question," Yusuke said, "what is the difference exactly?"

"Well, every human has spirit energy and it varies from person to person, like a fingerprint. And everyone has chi too, but when you use chi you don't just draw that energy from inside of yourself," I said poking Yusuke in the chest. "You draw it in from every else too. And like I told you before, you're usually more inclined to one or the other."

"And you're more inclined to chi?" Yusuke asked. "That's what you used in that technique you used to fight Tuguro before." I nodded. "And which is strong, chi or Spirit Energy?"

I laughed. "One isn't better than the other. But I do know it takes longer to recover chi than it does Spirit Energy depending on how much you use because it's a mostly external force."

"And Sprit Energy doesn't work like that?" Yusuke asked. I shook my head.

"If your Spirit Energy is gone it's because there's a problem with you," I said.

"Awesome," Yusuke said. "No chance of you teaching me to use chi before my fight tomorrow is there?"

"Afraid not. Hopefully you'll be cured by tomorrow," I said.

Just then, my phone started to buzz in my pocket.

"Who's calling you?" Yusuke asked as I fished it out of my pocket.

"Trunks," I said flipping it open. Yusuke rolled his eyes, flashed me the peace sign and started to walk away. "Stay out of trouble!"

"Whatever!" he replied.

I put the phone to my ear. "Hi."

"Telling Yusuke to be careful. I'm going to assume he survived his fight yesterday," Trunks said.

"Not without giving us all a heart attack first, as is Yusuke's nature," I said.

"How are the rest of your teammates doing?" Trunks asked.

"Well, Kuwabara lost his fight, Kurama apparently has some psychological issues he needs worked out, and Hiei is really scary, but also incredibly awesome apparently," I said.

"And your fifth fighter?" Trunks asked.

"It's Genkai, but I think I'm the only one that knows. She's wearing a mask and she doesn't talk," I said.

"Weird," Trunks said.

"Most of my family is," I said matter-of-factly.

"And do you know who Tuguro is after?" Trunks asked.

"Nope. And my partner is useless at the moment so I'm really on my own," I said.

"The others won't help you?" Trunks asked.

"Well, Kuwabara is an idiot," I started.

"True," he replied.

"Genkai doesn't know anything about what's going on. Hiei is as unhelpful as they come despite his exquisiteness as fighter," I said. "And Kurama might be helpful but he thinks very inwardly. It doesn't matter though. I can't keep track of those two anyway."

"Sorry for your luck," Trunks said.

"I wish you were here. You'd help me," I said. "You're the only person I know who's consistently not an idiot."

"Well, that's not fair. What about Goten?" Trunks said.

"I don't know. He takes after Dad. He has his moments," I said.

"You all take very strongly after Goku," Trunks pointed out.

"Touché," I replied.

"What if I came to the island to help you?" he asked.

"As much as I wish you were here, you'd better just stay there. If things go badly I want you as far away from the Tuguro Brothers as possible," I said.

"I appreciate the concern, but I can take care of myself," he said.

"Well, I'm the detective. I make the rules. I don't care what you want," I said.

"I understand," Trunks said after a brief pause. "Just do me a favor, and take care of yourself. I know you're worried about your teammates and all that, but I'm worried about you."

A smile crept over my face. "Shut up."

"I mean it," he said.

"I know you do," I said. "So shut up and go swimming or something. Enjoy your summer. I have work to do."

"See you later, Kairi."

"Bye."

I hung the phone and dropped it into my pocket. Stupid boy with his stupid nice words and being concerned. I didn't need this distraction. I had to find my teammates.

That's when I turned and slammed into Kuwabara.

"Watch where you're going, dude!" I said. "You scared the crap out me."

"Sorry," he laughed. "What are you doing?"

"Going to find Hiei and Kurama," I said. "And yourself?"

"I was looking for Urameshi," Kuwabara said.

"He went that way," I said. "Keep an on him will you? Make sure he doesn't run into any trouble."

"Hey! Shouldn't we all stick together and keep track of everyone?" Kuwabara asked.

"Probably but that doesn't look like it's going to happen," I said. I turned to leave when all of a sudden a flurry of images flashed into my head.

Hiei, Kurama and I were in the woods when a giant robot came crashing through. It started to attack us.

The pictures resided and I was back with Kuwabara.

"Uh. . . Are you okay?" he asked.

I cleared my throat and let myself get re-acclimated to my environment. Seeing the future always made me dizzy.

"Yeah. I just. . . Had a vision is all," I said.

"Whoa, you mean like, the future?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yeah. It happens sometimes," I said.

"Well what'd you see?" Kuwabara asked.

"I don't know for sure yet, but now I really have to go find Hiei and Kurama," I said. "Keep an eye on Yusuke, Kuwabara. It's very important."

I ran out of the woods pulling out my phone as I went and did the logical thing—called Kurama.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"At the arena seeing which team we're going to face tomorrow," he said. "Is something wrong?"

"Is Hiei with you?" I asked.

"No," he replied. "Why?"

"I'm concerned. Just stay put. I'm going to find you," I said.

I hung up the phone and ran off to the stadium.


	11. Still An Asshole

"I guess it's important that we find Hiei then isn't it?" Kurama asked after I recounted the very brief details of what I'd seen in the vision earlier.

"He can't use his right arm. If he gets attacked all on his own he could be in some real trouble," I said. "Especially if he's the one the Tuguro Brothers are after."

"Well there's no telling where he is now, but I'm certain he'll turn up eventually. Besides, Hiei can usually only be found when he wants to be found. If the Tuguro brothers are looking for him they won't find him easily," Kurama said. "Besides, as long as we're not with him, the less likely it is that your vision will happen."

"I wish that were true, but I have yet to see something that hasn't happened exactly as I've seen it," I said. "It's going to happen."

"Well don't trouble yourself with it until we find him," Kurama said. "If everything you see happens every time without fail it stands to reason that wherever he is right now he's probably okay because at some point we're going to see him and he's going to be in okay condition until we get attacked by a giant robot."

I nodded. Kurama was right. There was nothing I could do about it if I knew there was nothing I could about it.

"In other news, the team we're facing tomorrow will be Team Ichagaki," Kurama said. "If you'd gotten here earlier you could've seen them. They were quite good but they shouldn't be too much of an issue, they're not that strong."

"Good," I said.

"Although, there was something odd about three of the member on their team," Kurama said. "I don't think they were apparitions."

"Really? You mean they were humans?" I asked.

Kurama nodded. "Something was very wrong. I could tell the entire match, unfortunately I wasn't able to pin it down. I figured if you were you might have been able to tell with your many extra sensory perceptions."

"Ah, well this will be interesting," I said.

"Hey, did we miss it?"

I looked back to see Kuwabara and Yusuke joining us.

"No, you're just in time," Kurama said.

"The entire Spirit Warrior's team is here, but only Tuguro showed up for his," I said.

"The captain of that team, Topaz," Yusuke said pointing, "he definitely threatened to kill me not too long ago."

"Duh," I replied.

"He said he knew you," Yusuke said.

"Did he?" I asked looking at the captain closely. Then it clocked. "Oh! I remember this guy! I put him in jail when I was like 10." I looked around the arena. "I wonder how many people here have been put in jail and gotten out that are here as a matter of fact."

"Not many as I do recall you have a very high rate of killing since you became detective," Kurama said.

"True. . . Maybe that's why apparitions don't like," I said.

"So, Tuguro, where is the rest of your team?" Koto asked in her usual curious voice.

"If it's all right with you, I'd like to fight on my own today. I have a team, but they're incredibly lazy," Tuguro said with a smug grin. Topaz wasn't pleased with this. "How about all five of you fight me at once. We can make this quick."

The Spirit Warriors were offended at the insinuation that they would be killed so easily and then powered up. Their auras glowed a brilliant orange and their energy bounced all around the stadium.

"Spirit Warriors—I guess the name makes sense," Yusuke said.

But their display of power didn't last long. It didn't take more than two minutes for Tuguro to literally rip them to shreds, ending the bloodbath of a match by punching Topaz clean in half with one blow.

". . . Anyone terrified yet?" Kurama asked as we left the stadium.

Yusuke scoffed. "I shit my pants after first guy went down."

"Can we really do this you guys?" Kuwabara asked.

"Totally," I said.

"You didn't sound super confident when you said that," Yusuke said.

"I'm not actually," I said. "Mostly, I'm worried about the rest of his team."

"Likewise. Tuguro's strength is incredible. I'm curious to know about the rest of the abilities of his teammates," Kurama said.

"They probably know that which is why they're keeping it under wraps," I said. Kurama nodded in agreement. "Does anyone know where Hiei is?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess we should find the shrimp and make sure he's okay after what the little masked dude said," Kuwabara said.

"What did the Masked Fighter say?" I asked.

"Something about someone being crippled and screaming in pain. And you guys are fine and we're fine so it just leaves Hiei although he doesn't strike me as the 'screaming in pain' type," Yusuke said.

I sighed. If he knew the full extent of what had happened to Hiei's arm he'd disagree. I'd never seen an injury more deserving of bouts of screaming. And if Genkai had said it, it was obviously true that Hiei was in some pain wherever he was.

"I have to go and look for him," I said to Kurama. "After what I saw-."

"I know. It'd be best to keep a close eye on him," Kurama said. "I'll call you if he turns up."

"Thanks," I said. "You guys stay out of trouble too."

"Will do," Yusuke said.

888

I don't know how many times I'd circled the island, but after an hour I was ready to give up. I knew that what Kurama had told me earlier was right—if I saw Hiei okay in the future he was probably still okay now, but that didn't stop me from being fearful. Watching Tuguro mangle that team, hearing what Genkai had said about him, knowing that it was probably true—I couldn't stop thinking about how vulnerable Hiei probably was right now.

He was the last person I had expected to be in danger while we were here since he was the most self-sufficient person I knew, but I had to find him and make sure he was okay.

I circled a bit more until I got to the western shore of the island, and that's where I spotted him. He wasn't doing anything, just sitting on a ledge a few feet down from the top of the cliff looking out at the ocean.

I flew down and landed next to him.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Nope," I said.

"Then go away," he replied.

"I was looking for you," I said.

"What for?" he asked.

"I was worried about you," I said. "Because of your arm. I needed to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine," he replied.

"I'm sure you are," I said. "But that doesn't mean I stop worrying. Tuguro is trying to kill one of you and you've only got full use of one arm. I have cause to be concerned."

"Thank you for voicing your concern. Now be gone," he said.

I sighed. "If you don't want to fight tomorrow no one will blame you. Your arm needs to-."

"I said I was fine, Detective," he hissed at me.

My heart sank a little. "I really am just trying to keep you safe. . . I just watched Tuguro annihilate an entire team in the time it takes me to make a sandwich. I can't help but be a little worried about you all things considered."

"You're really starting to get on my nerves today," Hiei said.

"If you just tell me where you're going so I know where you are then you won't have the trouble of me following you around asking you a thousand questions telling you I'm worried about you and you getting on your nerves," I said.

"Your request is duly noted," Hiei said.

I rolled my eyes. "Are you really going to be a dick about this?"

"Probably," he replied. I groaned.

"Fine, get killed for all I care," I said, climbing back up the side of the cliff. "Oh, and by the way, we're going to get attacked by a robot."

"What?" Hiei asked.

"I saw the future. We're going to get attacked by a robot in the woods. Your arms will still be fucked up, so whatever you're doing I certainly hope it's going to help you tomorrow outside of the ring," I said.

"Thank you," Hiei said dismissively.

"You're welcome," I replied half-heartedly.

888

"He's the most arrogant, sarcastic, ungrateful asshole I've ever met," I said.

"Tell me something I don't know," Kurama replied.

I put my wet hair into a braid and tied a rubber band on the end.

"I think you're the only person he listens to," I said. "You should've told him to check in."

"I'm sure he will," Kurama said. "You asked him too didn't you?"

"Yeah, but since when has he ever done anything I've asked?" I pointed out climbing into my bed. "Mostly he just tells me to go away or be quiet."

"What about yesterday?" Kurama asked.

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "What about yesterday?"

"I thought the two of you had a lovely conversation last night," Kurama said.

"So the asshole will listen to me when I'm giving him an ego boost. Whoop-de-do," I said.

Kurama laughed. "That's what you call an ego boost?"

"What would you call it?" I asked.

"Flirting," he replied.

I scoffed. "Why would you think something like that?"

"The same reason Yusuke would," Kurama replied.

"You and Yusuke are both idiots," I said lying down.

"Are we, or are you just in denial?" he asked.

"I thought we were talking about how much of an ass Hiei was," I said.

"I'm just saying, Kairi, that if you keep telling him you admire his 'fighting prowess' there's the strong possibility that he'll want to listen to you—among other things," I said.

"You disgust me," I said.

"It probably helps that he saw you naked too," Kurama said.

"Shut up!" I said throwing pillow over my head.


	12. Always Listen to the Psychic Girl

_[A/N: What the shizz? I'm a total updating machine. This chapter is for Kaigirl16 who is a very diligent reviewer. I adore you.]_

When I woke up the next morning, Hiei was gone again.

"So much for your theory," I said throwing a pillow at sleeping Kurama after I'd gotten dressed.

"What?" Kurama asked drowsily.

"It was one thing for him to disappear yesterday, but before the match is a completely different story," I said. "I'm gonna go find him."

"I'll join you shortly," he said climbing out of bed.

I left the hotel, and went straight into the woods and it didn't take me very long to find Hiei.

"Of course you're here. I tell you we're supposed to get attacked in the woods by a giant robot and _this_ is where I find you," I said.

"You're really annoying," Hiei replied.

"I told you yesterday that I'd be a lot less annoying if you would listen to me every once in a while," I said.

"Thanks for the refresher," he replied.

"Why are you out here anyway? Shouldn't you at least be at the stadium if you're so eager to get out of the room," I said.

"Is it wrong to want a little solitude every once in a while?" he asked.

"Touché," I said. "Still. . . Your arm is busted. Don't say it's not because I know it is and you know it is. And maybe you can get it back to the way it was but we're only going to be here for two weeks. You don't have enough time to do something like that."

"What are you saying?" he asked.

"She's saying you shouldn't compete," Kurama said coming up behind me. "And I'd have to agree. Even a fighter as skilled as yourself won't be able to fight at his full potential without the use of his dominant arm."

"What do you know about it?" Hiei asked.

"I know you probably can't draw your sword. You're in too much pain," Kurama said.

"Just give yourself some time to recover," I said.

"You'll all need some time to recover when we're done with you!" a voice called out to us.

I sighed. "Oh, think we're about to be ambushed."

"What was your first clue?" Hiei asked.

"Probably the vision I had yesterday, which is why I was so adamant about you staying out of the forest, but no. You don't want to listen to me," I said.

"Do you ever stop complaining?" Hiei asked.

"No, maybe you'd know that if you listened to me more often," I said.

"Right—and complaining is the proper way to motivate me," Hiei said.

"Hey!" the demon who had been calling out to us jumped out in front of us, completely interrupting our banter. Hiei and I both socked the leopard printed demon and he fell over on the ground dead.

"We are having a conversation," I said rolling my eyes. "So rude."

"And that was using my left hand," Hiei said.

"Oh, I used my right. I'll use my left next time to be fair," I said. "I still don't think you should fight today."

"I don't think he's going to have much of a choice in a moment," Kurama said.

He was right, another demon who appeared to be some weird tiger lizard thing had walked out in front of us looking just as annoying and freaky as his counterpart.

"You may have killed my partner easily, but you'll have a much more difficult time defeating, Gatasubal!" the demon shouted.

"And this is where we get attacked by a giant robot," I said.

On cue, Gatasubal came crashing the through the trees out in front of us.

"Well damn it you were right," Hiei said. "Maybe I should start listening to you."

"The First thing I have to say to you is dodge!" I said.

Gatasubal extended its arm like giant rockets and we all jumped out of the way.

"Gatasubal is no ordinary robot," the demon said. "He's a cyborg. Doctor Ichigaki created him. He is a hybrid. He combine steel with living cells so he is virtually indestructible, and took away his ability to feel pain or fear. He is the perfect killing machine."

"Darn, and I thought this was going to be easy," Kurama said.

The arms came at us again, and we all dodged them with ease, that is, Kurama and I. Hiei made the mistake of flipping out of the way onto his right arm. He flinched for barely a moment before the arm grabbed him and pinned him against a tree. Kurama who was now being chased by the other arm, jumped right over top of Hiei, causing the arm to knock itself out of the way, freeing Hiei.

I'd had enough of being chased by now. I ran right up to Gatasubal and punched a hole straight through it. The robot shut down and I was left doing an awkward dance of pain in front of it.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Oh, Kai, the pain!" I said. "He was not joking about that virtually indestructible thing. That hurt like a bitch!"

"Why didn't you do that in the beginning?" Hiei asked.

"I don't know. I didn't expect you to do something stupid like put all of your weight onto fucked up arm," I said.

"It was reflex. I can't help it!" he said.

"If you two are done flirting with each other, we need some answers," Kurama said holding the very frightened demon by the throat.

I rolled my eyes and decided not to comment, lest I give my cousin the idea that he was actually right.

"So, you're on Team Ichigaki right?" I asked. The demon nodded, obviously very compliant now that he his android wasn't here to back him up. "So, you guys thought it would be a good idea to attack the Spirit Detective and the two most ruthless members of her team because. . ."

"He wants Urameshi's body," the demon said.

"Say what now?" I asked.

"Doctor Ichigaki sent us out here to keep you three away from the arena so it would lower Team Urameshi's chances of winning. If our team wins Ichigaki is going to kill Urameshi and experiment on his body," the demon went on. "He's got these three guys on the team, M1, M2, and M3. They've all got like. . . I don't know, these things on them that make them super warriors. With you guys gone Urameshi's chance of winning is 45%."

"And are these three fighters humans?" Kurama asked. The demon nodded. "Just as I suspected."

"He used them as lab rats after he inflicted their master with this horrible disease, but it was all a lie!" the demon said.

"Elaborate—now," I said.

"They're teacher was a martial artist. Dr. Ichigaki needed some test subjects so he gave him a terrible disease and said he'd help their master if the three of them agreed to help him in a science experiment. He never helped their master and he tricked the three of them. They're like his slaves now," the demon went on. "He just used them to get into the tournament so he could get Yusuke's body."

"And where is their master?" Kurama asked.

"Here on the island. Not too far from here," the demon said.

"You will show me," Kurama said. He looked to me and Hiei. "I'll be back. Try not to kill each other."

"No promises," Hiei said.

"Not that you could anyway with that shitty thing you call an arm," I said.

Kurama sighed and dragged the demon off.

Hiei and I stood in silence for a few moments.

"How do your powers work?" Hiei asked.

"My precognitive abilities?" I asked. He nodded. I shrugged. "Hell if I know. It's random. I'm sure if I sat down and focused enough I could learn to control it, but I don't have patience for it being 14 and all. And it's not very useful anyway."

"You warned us about today," Hiei pointed out.

"But it still happened. Even knowing it was going to happen, if we had tried everything to stay out of the woods today we would've still ended up here and we would have still ended up here," I said. "That's the way it always works. It happens as I see one hundred percent of the time."

"So you believe everything in life is predetermined then?" Hiei asked.

"I like to think I have control over my life, that I do everything I do because I want to, but there isn't much evidence to support that," I said.

"That doesn't stop you from doing what you want though does it?" Hiei asked.

"Hell, no," I said. "I'm sure it wouldn't deter you either."

Hiei shook his head.

"I'm sorry I teased you about your arm," I said. "Does it hurt really bad?"

Hiei shrugged. "Does your hand hurt?"

I looked down at my hand. It was pretty red and starting to swell. I should not have punched that robot.

"It's a little tender. Nothing I can't fix," I said flexing my fingers. "You'll need a lot more than a little Spirit Energy mojo to fix that arm though."

"Obviously," he said.

"Do you think you can get your arm back to normal?" I asked. Hiei shrugged again. "You know, communication is a two way street. You ask questions and then I answer, then _I_ ask you questions and _you_ answer and so far you've totally dodged both of my questions, but I've answered all of yours and I don't think that's completely fair."

Hiei chuckled. "You really are very annoying, Detective."

"You keep telling me that," I said.

"Yes and I hope so," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"I answered your questions," he said. "Pay attention, Detective."

I flashed him a smile. "I wish I could help you."

For the third time, Hiei shrugged, but he did return my smile with his usual smirk.

I walked over to Gatasubal. "I never actually thought of an android demon before, as stupid as that sounds. My dad's best friend, Krillin, is married to an android."

"What?" Hiei asked.

"She's an actual human being, she's just souped up with robot parts on the inside. They've been together like 12 years or something. It's totally weird because she's like a foot taller than him and he's a completely pansy compared to her except for this really sweet move he knows, the Destructo Disk, which I learned because it's pretty awesome, but the heart wants what the heart wants," I said.

". . . Uh-huh," Hiei replied. "Are you trying to express some kind of physical attraction to this abomination?"

"NO! Why would you even think that?" I asked.

"Because you're making it difficult to see where you're taking this conversation," Hiei said.

"I was just talking to fill the silence. Sheesh. I feel like can't have a conversation with you without someone spinning it to make it seem like I having outrageous feelings for people—or things in this case," I said.

Hiei cocked an eyebrow at me. "Now what are you talking about?"

"Nothing. Just Kurama and Yusuke being idiots and eavesdroppers," I said.

It wasn't long before Kurama and the unconscious demon were back.

"Did you find him?" I asked.

"Yes, and it wasn't hard to cure him once I knew what he was ill with. He'll be back on his feet in no time," Kurama said. "I also got a little more information about how he was controlling the three humans. He uses this thing he invented called a Virucchi which attached to their back. He told the humans he was doing blood test."

"It really pisses me off to see people taken advantage of like that," I said. "I oughta kick Ichigaki's ass on principle."

"You may get your chance. If we get to the stadium in time we may be able to think of a way to save M1, M2, and M3," Kurama said.

"And what about these guys?" Hiei asked.

"Gatasubal and M5?" Kurama asked. "They come with us."


	13. A Noble Idiot Is Still An Idiot

_[A/N: M1, M2, and M3 are the worst characters' names to type out ever. They make me want punch myself in the face. Also, isn't M1's random snaggletooth annoying and distracting?]_

"You Saiyans don't have a great sense of direction do you?" Hiei asked.

"I didn't hear you telling me I was going the wrong way," I said. We'd managed to get out of the forest and to the stadium, but ended up on the complete opposite side of the entrance where we needed to be. "I don't know why you're complaining anyway. It's not like you have to carry the giant android and the freaky looking demon the whole way."

"They're not that heavy," Kurama said. "Not for a Saiyan at least. You are more physically capable than us."

"Yeah, but I'm also lazier," I said.

"Well you should start pulling your own weight, alternate," Hiei said.

I dropped Gatasubal and M5 to the ground.

"Fine, since you guys want to be dicks, we're going in this way," I said.

"What are you talking about?" Kurama asked.

I grabbed M5, gave have twirl and then launched him up in the air, over the side of the stadium and inside.

I could hear the crowd go insane as he landed inside.

"Mature," Kurama said.

I smiled.

"It seems as though one of the missing members of team Ichigaki has landed inside of the stadium, magically falling from the sky! I take back what I said. _Now_ it couldn't get any weirder," Koto announced.

"Kairi, that was not a challenge," Kurama said as I grabbed Gatasubal.

"Yes it was," I said. Next I tossed Gatasubal into the stadium causing even more cheers. "Who's next, or would you rather walk all the way to the other side of the stadium?" Kurama and Hiei both sighed. "Oh, so you've both come to understand that this is actually happening?"

"Just get it over with, psycho," Hiei said.

I gave Kurama a boost and then launched him up in the air.

"Be careful of that arm," I said.

"I'll do my best," Hiei said rolling his eyes. Next, I tossed him in. Finally I merely used my mystical power of flight to join my companions in the stadium on top of Gatasubal.

"Can't make an entrance if you get here on time," Yusuke said.

I gave him a wink.

"The missing members of the Urameshi team have arrived as well. Hiei, Kurama, and Kairi can you tell us all what's going on?" Koto asked.

"Sorry, a 30-foot killing machine wanted a word with us," Hiei said.

"M5 told us everything. I'm relieved those three are still alive. Those Virucchi on the human fighters backs are the source of Ichigaki's mind control and I'm afraid that in their current state removing them would be fatal," Kurama said. "The three are completely innocent. They didn't know the implants would control them. They were told it was blood research."

"That no good, lying bastard," Kuwabara said.

"And that's not all. Ichigaki is the one who caused their master's illness in the first place—which just moved him up to the top of Spirit Detective's Ass Whoopin' list," I said.

"We have one of those?" Yusuke asked.

"We do now," I replied.

Dr. Ichigaki started to laugh. "So maybe I did infect Metamura? Maybe I lied to get their bodies? Who cares! Behind every scientific experiment there's a few poisoned rats!"

"Shut up! You don't care about the science you just want to win the tournament!" Kuwabara shouted.

Ichigaki laughed again. "Means to an end, boy. Means to an end."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yusuke asked.

"It means he didn't come here to win the tournament and he doesn't even expect those three to live. He got them so he could bring them to the tournament so after he won this match he could get your body, Yusuke, and turn you into one of his little experiments," I said.

The little troll went on laughing. "Right you are my dear! Those three are strong, but they don't have the potential you do, Yusuke. I'll probably get rid of them myself once I have you."

"Freak," I scoffed.

"Boys focus," Genkai said. I hadn't even noticed she was in the ring. She looked younger like she did all of her old photographs—side effects from the Spirit Wave technique. She tied her mask back around her face. "He's manipulating your emotions."

"I don't care if it's a trap! I'm gonna punch smug troll face in!" Yusuke shouted. He and Kuwabara took off after Ichigaki, but M1 and M2 had launched into the air to defend him, knocking my boys to the ground. It was ridiculous that they were trying to protect him, but Ichigaki was controlling them. They had no choice. My stomach was turning. As soon as my team won this match and subsequently won the round, I was going to kill that guy.

Hiei and Kurama jumped down from Gatasubal and took off to the ring.

"Ah, ah, ah! This has been declared a 3-on-3 fight. Enter the ring now and your whole team forfeits," Koto announced.

I face-palmed myself.

"Don't blame her, I was the one who got your apeish friend to agree to those terms," Ichigaki said.

"Naturally," Kurama said rolling his eyes.

Kuwabara and Yusuke took off for Ichigaki again, but M1, M2, and M3 defended him again.

"Come on! You're still protecting this guy?" Yusuke aksed.

"At least say something! You heard what he said! He doesn't even care about you!" Kuwabara said.

"Nothing you say can affect them! As the Virucchi pumps blood into their brains, it alters their entire personality! It's not simple hypnosis or one suggestive command! It's a constant voice in their head controlling their every waking moment! They're not protecting me because I told them too—their new brains actually want to! They don't have to listen to me or to anyone else! The command has become a part of who they are!" Ichigaki explained.

He derived so much pleasure from controlling them. He was insane. Completely insane. I wanted to hurt him so bad every muscle in my body ached from holding myself back. If I had known about this guy before the tournament I would've killed him a long time ago.

"Kill them if you want! Their humanity is already gone!" Ichigaki said.

"Ichigaki's wrong! Their humanity is still there! It's just covered up!" Kuwabara said.

"After all this time you haven't heard a word I've said! Fine! Let your compassion carry you straight to your graves!" Ichigaki said.

I jumped down from Gatasubal as the three fighters marched slowly toward my teammates chanting "Kill" over and over and over.

They finally took off toward them. Yusuke ran back, but Kuwabara stood his ground.

"No. These guys chose me to send their message through. I'm not gonna let them down. I have to accept my responsibility as a man," Kuwabara said.

I groaned. "What is he doing?"

"This not wise!" Kurama said.

M2 came at Kuwabara with a giant energy spear and slashed him right across the chest. M1 took the air and tossed out his round halos, Angel Blades barely missing Kuwabara.

Kuwabara ran up to M3 and shook him. "Listen! Please! I know it feels like you're beat but you're not. This is still your body!"

M3 gave Kuwabara a few hits knocking him to the ground. This was getting difficult watch.

"This is getting ridiculous! I'm coming in to help!" Yusuke said.

"No! I'm the only one that needs to do this!" Kuwabara said.

All three of the fighters prepared to launch an attack at Kuwabara who stood with open arms ready to take them all. And he did.

All three attacks hit him at once knocking him out of the ring.

"And Kuwabara goes down with his plea thrown back in his face in a spectacular three-on-one attack!" Koto cheered.

My everything hurt. If Kuwabara died I was going to go ape shit.

"How could you do that? You're the bastards that asked him for help!" Yusuke scolded the three fighters.

And then, M1, M2, and M3 all started to cry silently—tears of blood streamed from their eyes.

"Kill. . . Kill us. . ." they all started to say.

"Now you feel bad? Now that it's over?" Yusuke asked.

"No, Yusuke, it's not over. Not for Kuwabara at least. They deliberately missed his vital points. He will live," Genkai said.

I relaxed a little.

"So his pleading really worked," Botan said.

"Not completely. Their true selves awoken, but they are not in control. I'm afraid this show of emotion won't last for long," Genkai said.

I couldn't even imagine what they must've been feeling to not have control. They must've felt like they were screaming at the top of their lungs and no one could hear them. They had to watch themselves murder innocent people and fight in this horrible tournament and there was nothing they could do. And now all they wanted to do was die for the things they had done.

"So it's just their emotions throwing a wrench into my plans. I can fix that," Ichigaki said.

"You guys get one chance to talk and all you can say is 'kill me'?" Yusuke asked.

And then I felt it—his Spirit Energy was starting rise at an incredibly high speed. His powers were back. Yusuke was about to kick some ass.

He went up and socked all three guys in the face.

When they came at him with their attacks he dodged and countered them all with ease. My partner was back.

That meant I had some business with the doctor.

I walked to the other side of the ring with Hiei and Kurama where Ichigaki was punching in some calculations about Yusuke's chances of winning the fight.

"52.527 percent!" he exclaimed.

"Percentages are for poker," Hiei said.

"You can factor strength and stamina, I'll give you that. But you cannot measure the true heart of a warrior," Kurama said.

"Buzz off! I must've just punched in the wrong number!" Ichigaki said.

"You sound so sure you're right, Doctor," I said.

"I'm always right!" he said.

"And how is that?" I asked.

"Because I'm an evil genius!" he said. "Now I suggest you get lost before I have you dealt with after Urameshi."

I scoffed. "I'm not going anywhere, Doctor. You see, because as soon as Yusuke handles your boys and this nightmarish round is over, I'm going to kill you. First I going to punch you into an unrecognizable pulp and then I'm going to slice you up into itty bitty troll bits and I don't usually find pleasure in killing, but oh, I'm going to enjoy it. I'm going to enjoy it _so_ much."

"Slow down there, Killer," Hiei said pulling me back from Ichigaki.

In the ring, Yusuke was charging up for the most enormous Spirit Gun he'd probably ever fired. He was about to kill the humans.


	14. Destructo Disk Always Cauterizes

Before Yusuke could fire off his Sprit Gun, Genkai jumped in and grabbed hold of Yusuke. His Spirit Gun died down and they both landed on the ground.

"I'll take it from here," she said.

The Doctor was laughing. "You can't kill these humans. You know it'd be wrong. All you have left to do is accept your defeat."

Genkai needed to get this over with because I was starting lose my mind retraining all this rage toward Ichigaki.

Genkai started to do a chant and then she released and incredible amount of energy, sending it skyward like a tower. Just when I thought she couldn't get any more impressive.

Ichigaki's boys ran at her but she created a bubble around herself. When they hit it they were suspended in mid-air. She went up and punched each of them in the chest and the Virucchi was expelled from their backs.

The force field vanished and they all fell to the ground. There was nothing left of their Spirit Energy. Just like that she'd ended it.

"There's nothing left of them," Hiei said.

"Yes. What an immense attack," Kurama said.

"What the hell was that all about? Why'd you hold me back if you were going to do it yourself?" Yusuke asked.

"I did what I had to do—nothing more," Genkai said.

Koto ran up and started her 10 count. But it was pointless. They were dead. Her 10 count finished and we racked up another win.

"Hate all you want but you better buy some water for those throats because you'll be screaming for a while if they keep getting victories like that!" Koto said.

"Shut up, Foxgirl! That was no victory!" Yusuke shouted.

I turned to Ichigaki. "Okay, Doctor—time to die." I wasn't cool with this human killing thing and neither were my boys. Yusuke walked to the edge of ring.

"You know you're not walking away from this," Yusuke said.

Ichigaki turned to Hiei and Kurama.

"Don't embarrass yourself," Hiei said.

"Acknowledge your cruelty and your punishment will be swift," Kurama said.

"WAIT! What if I told you the master, Metamura was here and I was the only one that knows how to find him and cure him!" Ichagaki proclaimed.

"Bitch please. Maybe you forgot, but we run this shit," I said. I motioned back toward the entrance where Metamura was stumbling in.

"Your assistant was in the mood to talk," Hiei said.

"I didn't have to go far to find him and after seeing his symptoms I was able to quickly make an antidote," Kurama said. "I acquired a few poisonous herbs on this island as well. Care to try one, Doctor?"

"That won't be necessary because it's like I already said—I'm going to fuck him up," I said.

Ichigaki reached into his lab coat and pulled out a syringe filled with burgundy liquid.

"Did you fools really think I would experiment with body manipulation and not save some for myself?" he asked injecting himself.

He grew to be about 20 feet tall with massive teeth and claws.

"I guess this guy doesn't know steroid are illegal in most major sporting events," I said joining Yusuke in the ring.

"Another surprised from the Ichagaki camp! He's turned into some giant green monster with super long finger nails!" Koto shouted.

"Did you really think you could stop the progress of science?" he asked. "Let me show you my modifications!"

He launched one arm at me and Yusuke and the other Hiei and Kurama.

"This guy really likes stretchy arms," I said as Hiei and Kurama joined us in the ring. Hiei pulled out his sword and stopped him. "Now wait just a second boys, you've got this whole tournament to kick some ass—but this bitch is mine."

"Incredible! Kairi the teams alternate is asking her three much more capable looking teammates to back off so she can have a go at Ichigaki during this unofficial fight! Is this dainty little girl really capable of taking on this behemoth?" Koto announced.

"Don't get killed, detective," Hiei said.

"Your request is duly noted," I said.

My boys backed off and left me there to stare down Ichigaki alone. He laughed.

"You going to kill me little girl?" he asked.

I took a deep breath. "You know what—I'm starting to get really pissed off with all the condescending 'little girl' comments all you guys have been making about me this entire tournament, so let me make this inescapably clear because I think all of you apparitions, especially you, Ichigaki, have forgotten exactly who I am."

I raised my had above my head, materialized destructo disk and then sliced off one of his arms.

"I'm the monster that hides under your bed at night," I said. I took another disk and sliced off the other arm. "I'm that thing in your closet that keep you awake at night." I took another one and cut off a leg. He fell to the ground wailing. "_I'm_ the motherfucking boogeyman." I slice off his last leg. "Urameshi might be captain of this team, but let's just pretend he's handling my light-work." I walked up to Ichigaki who was now barely hanging on. "_I'm_ the original Spirit Detective and when this tournament is over I will still be the Spirit Detective and if I find out anyone else here has treated any humans this shamefully or if anyone tries to hurt my teammates ever again I will fucking kill you—just like this little shit here." Finally, I cut off his head. "And nobody here better forget that."

The stadium was silent. Even my teammates were silent. This was probably the first time they'd seen Kairi Son—Saiyan Warrior acting like a ruthless killer. But I couldn't help it. I was heated. I needed to make a point and I'd definitely gotten it across.

"Wow. . . All I can say is wow. It's no wonder Spirit World hired this girl to be Spirit Detective and it's obvious why after only a few years as detective so many horror stories have spread about her. The way she so mercilessly dismembered Ichagaki was just exquisite. A hush has fallen over the audience as her words sink in that anyone of the apparitions in the audience could be her next victim if they don't behave themselves," Koto said.

Yep, I'd definitely made an impact. I walked away from Ichigaki's body and back over to Yusuke and Hiei.

"Since when can you do that?" Yusuke asked.

"Oh, please. I've been in the business a long time remember, Yusuke," I said. "But look at my shoes, they're all covered in blood now. I totally should've used more energy, but it takes a really long time to create a Destructo disk cauterizes the wounds. I was way too sloppy if he's bleeding this much. Krillin would be disappointed in me if he saw this. Although, I was outstandingly accurate for once cause you cannot guide those babies once you throw them."

Hiei laughed. "Excellent."

"Cauterize? Destructo disk? Sloppy? I don't even know you anymore!" Yusuke said. "You used to just punch people in the face and be sassy all of the time. Now look at you. Sadistic killing machine who scared a stadium full of apparitions."

"Don't listen to him. I like this side of you, Kairi. Keep it up," Hiei said.

I smiled. "Thank you, Hiei. I knew you at least would appreciate my no nonsense side."

"No-nonsense? Please Kairi. That was more like your Vlad the Impaler side," Yusuke said.

"Same difference. Don't start no shit, won't be no shit," I said. "Justice has been served."

"It doesn't matter," Metamura said from outside the ring where Kurama was holding him steady. "He may be dead, but you could kill a thousand people and it won't bring those boys back. Poor Yen, Ryo and Kai." He started to cry. "It's all my fault! How could I have let this happen?"

"Save your tears Metamura!" Genkai said. "Your boys aren't dead."

"Are you serious?" Yusuke asked.

We turned to look at them and amazingly all three of them were getting back to their feet.

"Now this is stupid weird," Yusuke said. "A few few minutes ago their Spirit Energy was completely gone."

"Yes. Then I guess it worked," Genkai said.

Metamura climbed into the ring and walked over to his boys, but they all retreated.

"Why do you turn away from me?" he asked.

"We committed horrible sins, Master," Kai said. "I can't even remember all of the people that I've killed."

"We're a disgrace to your dojo," Ryo said.

"We can't bear to look at you now," Yen said.

"Damn it! Why didn't she just kill us?" Kai asked.

"How can you say such a thing?" Metamura said.

"Your master is right," Genkai said. "Your guilt is misplaced. The technique I used is called The Spirit Wave. It is powered by your own Spirit Energy. If your souls are corrupt then the wickedness will take your life. But if your souls are good, then energy will consume you and do away with any outside impurities. It was your soul that destroyed the Virucchi and freed you. Not me. That proves you have nothing to hide."

"Boys, she just said what I already knew—if there was anything you could have done to prevent those kills you would have," Metamura said. "Who you really are is clean. I see you now as I always have as my three most noble students."

The boys ran back to their master, hugging. All was well.

Yusuke sniffled next to me and rubbed his eyes.

"Yusuke, are you crying?" I asked.

"No. I just have allergies. I'm allergic-."

"To what? Sadness?" Hiei asked.

"Screw both you guys," Yusuke said. "This is a beautiful moment."

"And so in a dramatic display of emotion fit to make any demon here hurl, the Urameshi team is set to advance!" Koto announced.

"Yeah, you're gonna wanna have someone clean this up," I said pointing to Ichigaki's dismembered body as Yusuke jumped out the ring to check on Kuwabara.

"Uh. . . Nasty," Koto replied.

Kurama and Botan dragged Kuwabara off the field into the locker room.

But then the PA chimed liked it always did at school before morning announcements, except this was the tournament.

"May I have your attention please! The third round of the Dark Tournament will begin immediately!" the committee announced.

"WHAT?" Yusuke shouted.

"Furthermore, the tournament committee has decided to continue the matches according to the diagram starting from the left," they went on putting the roster on the screen and wouldn't you know it, we had to fight right now.

"Team Urameshi and Team Masho please report to the ring!" they announced.

"Those cocksuckers! They can't do this to you guys!" I exclaimed.

Yusuke was back in the ring at Koto's throat in no time.

"HEY! Why don't you tell your friends up there to let another team fight!" Yusuke shouted.

"Sorry! If you have problem you have to take it up with the tournament committee! I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for why they came to this decision," Koto said.

"I just oughta go up there and give those uncle-fucking bastards a piece of my mind," I said.

"Except they hate you and you'd only make the situation worse," Hiei said.

"Additionally, tone down the profanity," Kurama said joining us in the ring.

This was perfect. Hiei and Kuwabara were both injured. Genkai had just exhausted all of her energy with the Spirit Wave and that left only Kurama and Yusuke to fight.

"Think you can handle this, Partner?" I asked.

"If a double-header's what they're calling for, then bring it on. I've got plenty of anger left after that troll doctor anyway," Yusuke said.

"Good, keep that attitude," I said.

"Team Masho, this is your final call—enter or be disqualified," Koto said.

A large wind swept into the arena and they landed outside the ring, all cloaked in black.

"Why do I get the feeling this is gonna be a tough one?" Yusuke asked.

"Because it is," I said. "Expect nothing but bullshit from these guys."


	15. Witch!

Botan walked Kuwabara out onto the field.

"Oh, now that he's back to full strength he should be a big help," Yusuke said sarcastically.

"It's not just Kuwabara who we need to worry about. That special attack drained our Masked Fighter considerably," Kurama said.

"So it's three of us against the five of them," Yusuke said.

Kurama and I exchanged glances. Hiei wasn't going to be much help either considering his arm was still busted.

I didn't have too much time left to think on it. There was a large gust of wind from the Team Masho camp. The black cloak from the fighter in the front. It revealed a tall, red headed demon with a small horn growing out of the front of his head.

"Jin, the wind master. That explains who this team is," Kurama said.

"You know these guys?" Yusuke asked.

"Most demons do. Team Masho must be a pseudonym. They known more commonly as the Shiniobi of the Spirit World," Kurama said.

"Shinobi? What are they?" Yusuke asked.

"They're stealth fighters, mercinaries for hire. A dispute arises in Spirit World and they handle it in secret," Kurama said.

"You'll know them as 'ninjas'," I said.

Jin climbed into the ring, followed by Yusuke.

"Team captains, please choose the terms of the fight," Koto said.

"Let's fix these stakes, one to one to one 'til I'm a tower on my feet holding a five," Jin said.

". . . Whatever he said," Yusuke said.

"Jin has asked for a series of one-on-one fights with the advancing team taking home five wins, and Yusuke gives the nod!" Koto announced.

As Yusuke climbed out of the ring, the tournament committee made another announcement:

"May I have your attention please—the tournament committee will be instituting a medical examination. Due to Team Urameshi fighting without rest and in accordance with section 13 of the tournament index, Team Urameshi must report to the medical tent."

"As long as they don't grab my balls and make me cough," Yusuke said.

The medical tent was on the other side of the stadium, and from it there was a little light, then the curtain pulled back and out stepped at leggy, redheaded nurse.

"Belay that previous statement," Yusuke said.

I rolled my eyes. "I hate boys."

She walked over to us and waved her hand over Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei and Genkai.

"Yes, you two fighters," she said motioning to the latter two, "will you come with me to the medical tent."

"Don't be stupid. We need no attention. Why don't you go tend to the fool over there," Hiei said.

"Because his wounds do not interest me in the way yours do, Hiei," she said. "Maybe I can help you."

I rolled my eyes.

"Please come with me," she said leading them away.

"I'll come too," I said.

"That's not necessary," she said.

"I think it is. This is quite possibly the sketchiest thing I've seen since I've been here," I said.

"Fine, but you'll have to stand outside," she said. "We don't allow visitors in the tent."

"Sure, sure," I said.

I followed them over to the tent and, as she requested, I stood outside, while she asked Genkai and Hiei a bunch of dumb questions.

"Are you experiencing any fatigue or sharp pains?" she asked them.

"No," Genkai answered.

"What about you, Hiei?" Ruka asked. "Surely that last attack had some effect on you."

"Why do you ask? Isn't it your job to know?" Hiei retorted. I chuckled.

"It must be hard to fight with your arm in excruciating pain," she said.

Hiei was now eating his words. It _was _her job to know and she did.

"Clearly you'll both have to stay with me until you're capable of fighting again," she said.

"Please—I don't go where people tell me to. You can treat yourself," Hiei said.

Hiei and Genkai turned to leave, and that's when things got complicated. A force field had appeared around the tent. Hiei and Genkai were trapped.

"Hey, lady, why do I get the feeling that you're not a licensed nurse?" Yusuke asked.

The lady pulled her nurse uniform off and revealed herself to be covered in vines to cover her unmentionables.

"Correct, Yusuke. Enchantress is more like it," she said.

"Yeah, that was my next guess," Yusuke said.

"Ruka is my name. Regarded as the most talented creature alive in spell defense and incantations," she said.

"What's that mean?" Yusuke asked.

"It's just a different way to manipulate energy. She can't attack anyone, but her defense is so powerful it doesn't really matter," I said.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Ruka said.

"Give me my team back," Yusuke said.

"Didn't you hear the announcement? They're very sick. They're going to need time to recover," she said.

She muttered off some words and a spirit thread wrapped around Genkai and Hiei.

"That spirit thread uses their own energy against them—the more they struggle, the stronger it becomes," Kurama said.

"The medical examination has revealed that Hiei and the Masked Fighter are unfit to fight and will sit out the remainder of the round while they are suitably treated," the committee announced.

I groaned. "I'm going to go over in that general direction and bang my head against the wall."

"Now, don't do that, then you'll need my special attention as well," Ruka said.

"Personally, I'd rather die from brain trauma than accept any kind of 'special attention' from you, Witch," I said.

Ruka glared at me. _"Enchantres."_

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," I said. "It's fine though. Once my boys here have dispatched Team Masho, which they _will_ do despite their 'disadvantage' and you're forced to let these two go, I'm going to kill you."

Ruka scoffed. "You wouldn't be able to."

"I might not be able to right now, but I am going to figure out a way to overpower your little defenses here and when I do, I'm going to kill you," I said. "Maybe you missed that speech I made about messing with my teammates a few minutes ago, but I am totally not in the mood for this today and I don't take to kindly to people messing with my friends."

"You're all talk detective. You put on quite a show before, but you're the alternate for a reason," Ruka said.

"You're right, I am the alternate for a reason, one you wouldn't even begin to understand. But, I'm also the Spirit Detective for a reason and that should frighten you," I said.

"It doesn't," she replied.

"Then you're either brave or stupid—I'm betting it's stupid. You are a witch after all. Your special talent is running away," I said. She glared at me again.

"I think you're done here," Kurama said dragging me away. "Calm yourself. Are you going to threaten to kill everyone who upsets you today?"

"No, I'm _going to_ kill anyone who tries to hold you guys hostage again, for the second time today," I said.

"Relax and think for a moment, Kairi. The committee is obviously against us," Kurama said.

"Great detective work there, Mister-States-the-Obvious-A-Lot," I said.

"Consider for a moment also that Hiei and the Masked fighter are in no fit state to fight anyway," Kurama said. I nodded. "Why would she take those two hostage instead of the two of us? Why simply hold us hostage when she could've done more? I'm betting her skills are not great enough for her to do more than hold two people who can't fight back hostage."

I sighed. "Which is why she told me to stay out of the tent." Kurama nodded. "So, what's your plan now?"

"The tournament has hurt us less than they think. They've only given Team Masho a false sense of security. The advantage is ours," Kurama said.

"Boy, I hope you're right," I said.

"How often am I wrong?" he asked.

I sighed. "I actually find that comforting."

"Because he's never wrong," Yusuke said.

"Well, look Jin. It's two against five now. You can crush them all," one of Team Masho's member's said.

Jin shook his head. "No, I'm having to change my mind if it's going to be a fix like that," he said. "I don't give a damn. Someone else can go."

"I don't think it would be wise to think you can disrupt the set this time," the man said, grabbing hold of Jin's shoulder.

Jin grabbed his arm and glared at him. "Don't you ever put your dirty hands on me again." He shoved his team member away and climbed out of the ring. He went over and reclined against the wall.

"Don't fret, Bakken. He just wants a challenge for his match."

"Enough talk—who's going to go first?"

"Please, allow me."

One of the members removed his robes and jumped into the ring. He was a gangly looking fellow with blue skin and a green bandana around his head.

Yusuke stepped up to fight, but Kurama stopped him

"What are you doing?" Yusuke asked.

"Leave him to me. We're going to have play this round very carefully, Yusuke. Let me fight them for as long as I can while I gauge their weaknesses. And you can take over when I've fallen," Kurama said.

"Good idea," I said. "But be careful, Kurama. There's a whole mess of people who'll be totally bummed if you die."

"And I assume you'll be one of them?" he asked jokingly.

"Oh, yeah. I'll be completely distraught," I replied with a wink. "But seriously, Kurama—I don't care if you are just some old as balls demon trapped inside the body of a 15-year-old, you're still my cousin. Be careful."

He nodded. "I always am."

Kurama jumped into the ring.

"Didn't Kurama let Hiei stab him in the stomach around the first time we met?" Yusuke asked.

"Yeah. I'm not sure he completely understand that there is no correlation between 'careful' and 'bat shit crazy'," I said.


	16. Ice, Ice Baby

"And it's, Kurama versus Gamma. You may begin," Koto announced.

Gama began the match in the oddest fashion I'd seen thus far—but pulling out paint brushes. I knew better by now than to underestimate the apparitions in this tournament, but I was still having a hard time judging what kind of damage this fellow was going to do with a paint brush. Maybe the bristles were made of the steel, or maybe they grew out into a whip or something.

"Tell me, demon traitor, what does the word makeup bring to mind? Human females no doubt. A little gloss to attract their next mate. Isn't it disgusting how humans manage to bastardize everything they touch?" Gama asked. "Their influence has begun to infect the Spirit World as well. Now few demons know it's original power."

Gama took the paint brush and wiped it over his eyes, covering it in red paint, then his lips with blue, and then he drew several other intricate markings over his chest before sheathing his paint brushes and raising his energy.

"Now, this is something I haven't seen before! Gama has covered his body in some sort of face paint and now his Spirit Energy is going insane!" she announced.

Gama ran at Kurama who quickly dodged in time for Gama to punch into ring. But Gama didn't stop. He kept after Kurama throwing punch after punch. He was quick, and while Kurama managed to dodge each attack, he was still gauging Gama's abilities and did not attack him.

Then, he lost his balance ever so slightly, long enough for Gama to whip out his brushes and doodle on one of Kurama's pants legs.

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly have you done to me?" Kurama asked, clearly holding back his irritation.

"Your leg feels like a giant block of led now doesn't it?" Gama asked laughing.

"Wait, so he can't move any part of his body that he gets paint on?" Yusuke asked.

I shook my head. "Of course. This day started out shitty, let's just pour some more shit on it."

Kurama dragged his leg away from Gama. It was going to be nearly impossible to dodge any attack now.

"Why fight it, Kurama? The makeup of death has already marked you! You cannot escape," Gamma said.

Unable to run, Gama marked both of Kurama's arms and his remaining legs.

"The makeup of chain," Gama said.

"How fitting," I said.

"Try to limp away now," Gama said. "Nearly two thousand pounds of weight is chained directly to his skin." He jumped around Kurama, taunting him.

"I totally jinxed him. I tell him to be careful and this happens. I should just keep my mouth shut," I said.

"Prepare for you demise, demon traitor!" Gama proclaimed as he went in for the kill.

I covered my eyes. I couldn't watch.

"Rose whip!"

I immediately brought my hands down in time to see Kurama flip his hair dramatically, materializing a rose whip from his hair, slicing Gama almost into pieces.

"But, the makeup…" Gama said.

"Only an amateur depends on arms and legs for victory," Kurama said.

"I totally keep forgetting he's a genius," I said.

"Me too," Yusuke said. "All right, Kurama! One down!"

"A total 180! Kurama has somehow taken control of this fight!" Koto announced.

"It is my fault I have been killed today. I made the mistake of not sealing your energy as well," Gama said.

"I know that with the energy you are using to restrain me you could easily heal yourself. Release me and I will let you walk away with your life," Kurama said. "Even with my arms and legs restrained, you are in no shape to fight me, Gama. Don't give up your life pointlessly. You're too intelligent for that."

Gama limped over to Kurama and threw punch at him, spattering him with blood as Kurama leaned back out of the way. He continued in this way,. Being scolded by Kurama, bleeding all over him until his arm fell off.

Then he fell over on the ground.

"That was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!" Koto cheered before beginning her ten count.

"You're right. It is solely your fault that you die in vain. I cannot pity you," Kurama said.

"The death is yours," Gama said. "You never asked what gave my makeup its special powers, what made it different from that filth that humans put on their faces. My makeup is so powerful because it is made from my own blood."

"Oh, no," I said dropping my face into my hands. I could now assume that Gama splashing blood all over Kurama wasn't just his way of being clumsy, but of putting some other fancy pattern all over Kurama.

"The makeup of the seal. It's what I should've done from the beginning," Gama said. "I've sealed your energy inside of your body. Even as I fade the effect will live on. I have secured victory for my Shinobi set. So I die knowing it is not in vain."

"And 10! Team Urameshi takes the first win! Will the next fighters please approach the ring," Koto announced.

"Do you still feel like banging your head against that wall?" Yusuke asked.

"Yeah. I'm also finding it incredibly difficult to remain optimistic today. I just feel very anxious and extremely angry and I'm feeling angrier by the second and that just makes me more anxious because I'm not allowed to hit anybody!" I said.

"Kurama's a smart guy. He'll figure his way out right?" Yusuke asked.

"He can't move and he has no energy. Unless Kurama suddenly developed the ability to spit acid at people without telling us, then I have no idea what's going to happen," I said.

The fighter climbed into the ring and tossed his cloak aside. He was shorter, with slicked back blue hair, with four strands that hung down into his face. He has a long sleeve fishnet shirt on under a sleeveless blue shirt, and a white tunic.

I face palmed myself.

"Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn," I said.

"Not good?" Yusuke asked.

"This is extremely very not good," I said. "That's Touya, the master of ice. He's like Kurama—very dangerous and also very smart. This is not good. Very not good."

"Gama, you fought well and I assure you that your death will be honored. Kurama will pay," Touya said.

"Do you know anything else about this guy?" Yusuke asked.

I shook my head. "No, I don't. But you know who might." I looked over to the medical tent where Hiei and Genkai were. "I'll be right back."

I ran over to the medical tent just as the match was beginning.

"I'll make this quick," Touya said.

"Back for more," Ruka said when I reached the tent.

"Piss ff, lady, I'm not here to see you," I said. "Hiei, please things aren't as bad as they look."

"It's hopeless," he said. I hung my head and sighed.

"Fantastic," I said.

"There is still one weapon, Kurama can use," Genkai said. "Time. The first curse will wear off soon, and then he can move. Perhaps is he can stall long enough, perhaps he can regain his energy too."

"That's nice, but I'd rather stay realistic," Hiei said.

"I am going the route of the optimist," I said. I turned back to the ring.

"Answer me something first—why? The Shinobi have always dealt with their affairs in secret. Why expose yourselves now?"

". . . For light. Even the strongest tree will die if left in the dark. I find that to be the best way to describe us. A giant oak, crashing through a dark soil, bringing order to an otherwise chaotic land. The Shinobi have done their job for centuries and done it well. But in recent years, we have caught glimpses of the outside world and asked 'why not us? Have we not earned the privilege others take for free?' We are entering a new era and we will begin with land of our own—this island. It has already been arranged that if we win this tournament Hanging Neck Island will be our prize. And once this blinding light pours over us all, like branches, we will cover the world."

"Heh, the ninjas are revolting," Hiei said. I couldn't help but snort.

"The Shinobi have survived for centuries by passing on their knowledge to their next students. Clearly, their masters made pour choices. These fighters don't know their place," Genkai said.

"I don't give a damn about their internal disputes, the only important thing is how strong they are," Hiei said. "I've fought my share of ice masters. Seiryu, the Blue Dragon fell to my sword quickly enough but he was not master. He was a fool who thought he could get by on half of his lessons, but if there is anyone who completed the full training and learned the way his master intended, it is Touya."

"No comforting," I said.

"I don't give you comfort—just the truth," Hiei said.

"Let's cease with the conversation. I know you're just biding your time until that seal wears off," Touya said.

"I admit, you've caught me with my hands red," Kurama said.

"You boys are having too much fun—begin!" Koto exclaimed.

"Gama made the mistake of giving you too much time to think, but not me!" Touya said, preparing himself. He released his energy and a sheet of ice covered the ring. A wave of cold air shot out across the field. I shivered. He put a wall of energy around the ring, like a wall of glass.

"Even with your energy sealed, I'm still hesitant to get near you after your little rose whip maneuver. You understand—I'd rather fight long distance," Touya said. He raised his hand to his mouth, and created tiny little balls of energy in his hand and shot them out at Kurama. "Shards of winter!"

As they reached him, Kurama jumped out of the way.

"Seems Kurama can move his arms and legs now, but it may not be in time to dodge this assault!" Koto announced.

She was right, several of the pieces of ices hit Kurama.

Kurama ran, and Touya pursued, shooting the shards of ice at him. No matter where he ran or how skillfully he moved, he couldn't dodge them all. With one final blow, Touya hit him with the glass and knocked him to the ground.

"Just stay down! I'll handle it from here!" Yusuke shouted. I half agreed. There was nothing Kurama could do without the use of his energy.

The audience was going crazy, shouting for Touya. I forgot how badly they wanted to see us lose—how badly they wanted all of us dead.

But Kurama got to his feet, badly injured.

"That hit was not enough to beat you. I know staying down was another one of your attempts at buying time. I _don't_ suggest trying it again," Touya threatened.

The chase was on again, but Kurama was doing something, he was smearing his blood all over his chest.

"Don't under estimate Gama. It'll take a lot more than smearing to get that curse off you," Touya said.

But then Kurama pulled out a rose. I watched hopefully, but as he tried to materialize his whip, he fell over on the ground in pain. Touya laughed.

"You've noticed little inklings of energy in your blood, but the trouble is that to have enough energy to get your little whip you'd have to bleed yourself dry!" Touya laughed.

My heart sank again. This was looking worse as time went on. Touya launched more shards of winter at Kurama who didn't manage to dodge at all. He was simply knocked back over onto the ground.

"I know that look—pure agony, and yet, Kurama is still trying to get up. He's determined to take some more," Koto said.

Kurama got back up, bleeding more profusely now. I could vomit from how badly this was looking like it was going to turn out.

"You really are dangerous aren't you? I haven't been making direct hits have I? You've been blocking your vital point with your own body," Touya said. "You must be very old and experienced—perhaps as I am."

"We are more alike than you know," Kurama said. "Now tell me, this new life on the outside, what do you truly plan to do with it?"

"The world will know just as soon as we get there," Touya said.

". . . Don't assume," Kurama said boldly.

I glanced over to Hiei who seemed just as curious about what Kurama was talking about as I was. He was cornered from where we were standing, but he sounded confident, as if he weren't bleeding to death and he was able to use his energy. I got a bad feeling in my stomach.

Touya seemed frustrated, like the rest of us, unable to gauge what Kurama was thinking. He materialized an sword made of ice on his right.

"I can't allow this to continue," he said.

"Wow! Touya's created a sword out of ice! It's the barbaric finish we've been waiting for!" Koto said.

My stomach was in knots. Touya ran at him and swung, but Kurama managed to dodge quickly.

"Whoa! That head nearly flew off!" Koto announced.

"Let's see how long you can keep this up," Touya said.

He continued to slash at Kurama who was just barely dodging death. My fist were clenched at my sides, my palms were sweaty, my heart was racing. Something had to give.

"Tell fox girl you give up! I'll take it from here!" Yusuke shouted.

But Kurama didn't give up, instead while dodging he moved badly and Touya sliced his arm open and knocked him to the ground.

"Just listen to Yusuke, Kurama!" I said, abandoning Hiei and Genkai to Join Yusuke back by the ring.

"Stay down! I'll handle this!" Yusuke shouted again.

But then Kurama got up, and he had this look in his eyes, a look that said he had a plan and we were not going to like it.

"Let me do what I must," he said.

Yusuke grabbed me by my wrist and pulled me away from the ring, giving Kurama a nod. This wasn't going to end well. I could feel it in my bones.

"I'm going to end your life in one blow," Touya said. "I've come to know you quite well in our fight, Kurama. Let's not let this slaying ruin our friendship."

"My thoughts exactly," Kurama said taking off.

"No, don't run. I can't guarantee a painless kill that way," Touya said running after him. Kurama suddenly turned and Touya lunged at him from above. And then my cousin showed us how much of a psychopath he actually was.

Vines from his death plant shot from the wounds in his arms, and stabbed Touya straight through the chest.

"But your energy is trapped inside of you! How could you manipulate your death plant?" Touya asked.

"By placing the death seed into my open wound I allowed it to take root and grow inside of me with my trapped energy. I had no other choice," Kurama said.

"You really are something," Touya said falling over on the ground.

"What an incredible turn around! I'll start the ten count!" Koto announced.

"Now it's my turn!" Yusuke said.

"Thank goodness," I said letting out a sigh. Now we just had to get him out of the ring so we could hopefully do something about the vicious life sucking plant that was sewn inside of his body.

Touya was struggling on the ground, trying to get up, but he finally went back down.

"You have won the match. Please. . . Kill me," Touya said.

"I will not. You never answered, what do you plan to do with this island if you get it?" Kurama asked again.

"Who cares?" Touya asked.

"I too have spent year in shadow. Interesting how unexpected regret can appear," Kurama said. "That's what this life does. I only wanted to know if you can make this life better, nobler, than mine has been?"

Kurama's arms dropped to his side and his eyes closed. It was all I could to not start hyperventilating.

Koto walked up to him and then turned to the audience.

"Hold on a second people—Kurama still has a faint heart beat. It seems he slipped into unconsciousness while still on his feet," she said.

"Oh, Kai—I don't think I can handle any more stress today," I said. "Yusuke, please take over now."

"With pleasure—and just so we're clear, Fox Girl, the rest of the fights are all mine," Yusuke said.


	17. Blood, Sweat, and Plant Humor

_[A/N: Hope you are enjoying these more frequent updates. I certainly am.]_

"Not so fast." One of Team Masho's members had climbed into the ring. He was very tall, very tan, covered in scars, with a deep booming voice. I could tell he was the one who had pissed off Jin earlier in the day by grabbing him. This was Bakken.

"You forgot something, he's standing in the ring," he said. "It looks like he's volunteering to fight."

"Excuse me, motherfucker? He's not even conscious anymore!" I shouted.

"I'm taking this fight!" Yusuke said.

"Uh. . ." Koto glanced awkwardly between Yusuke and Bakken. "All right, team captain decides. Yusuke versus Bakken."

"Correction," the Tournament committee announced, "the next fight will be Kurama versus Bakken. A fighter cannot be removed from the ring against his will, as will cannot be determined here, the fighter remains."

I had never felt so much rage in my entire life. Tears were actually in my eyes. I was going to cry.

"Oh, my Kai. Oh, my Kai. I'm going to have to choke a bitch," I said.

Bakken grabbed Koto and tossed her out of the ring.

"Now that the ref is out of the picture, we can really have some fun!" Bakken said. He made a fist and punched Kurama clear across the ring. Yusuke put his hands on my shoulder to keep me from running into the ring and disqualifying all of us. My heart was racing.

"You look so peaceful with your pretty little flowers," Bakken said kicking him across the ring.

"Kurama is clearly down—Bakken step away so I can start the count," Koto said, visibly as irritated with this turn of events and no longer the unbiased commentator.

"You again?" Bakken asked.

"I'm just trying to do my job okay? One! Two!" she started.

"You must think you're funny. Nobody humiliates my sect and gets to slip away with a ten count," Bakken said. He grabbed Kurama and lifted him from the ground, ending the ten count. "Oh, look, he's on his feet again. I guess this means he wants more!"

I was forced to stand there while my own flesh and blood was pummeled by some asshole and couldn't even fight back.

He knocked Kurama to the ground again and Koto ran back to his aid once more.

"I'm all for blood and violence, you disgusting horse, but he's not even awake to enjoy it. I'm taking a ten count," she said firmly.

Bakken, ever the giant asshole, smacked Koto out of the way and out of the ring.

"We're making the rules now," he said. He lifted Kurama up into the air. "I won't risk enjoying myself any longer—I'll just break your neck."

I couldn't handle this anymore. I raised my hand from my side, fully prepared to forfeit everything in this tournament and slide Bakken's head right off if he put another finger on Kurama. From the looks on the rest of my teammates faces, they were perfectly okay with this as well.

Bakken went in for the kill and so did, but one of the members of Team Masho spoke up.

"Stop it, Bakken," he said.

Bakken didn't hit Kurama and turned to his team member.

"Place his body outside of the ring," he said.

"But, Risho, he killed our sect member," Bakken said.

"Yes, and if you had landed that punch you would've died as well," Risho replied. Bakken turned and looked right at me. "Or do you think you could've survived a decapitation? It's clear that team cares more about this demon traitor than it does this tournament. They're prepared to fight every apparition in this stadium if they must. We need to win, not be involved in a revolt."

"You're getting soft, Risho. You're going to end u p like Gama and Touya. If this prize is what we really want, we shouldn't be making concessions," Bakken said. He looked back at me. I was still prepared to kill him if necessary. "Fine, take your precious demon."

He tossed Kurama out of the ring onto the ground.

"I think we can all agree that Kurama will not be getting back into the ring. Just changed the blasted board already," Koto said getting back into the ring herself.

The scoreboard changed, giving Bakken his win, but I didn't care. I was dashed over to Kurama's side.

He was still unconscious, bleeding badly now that Bakken had beat him into jelly. A few tears fell from my eyes and I wiped them from my face.

Yusuke gave me an encouraging pat on the back.

"He's gonna be okay," Yusuke said.

I picked Kurama up and moved back against the stadium wall where he would be out of the way.

Yusuke looked up into the ring and glared at Bakken.

"Ooh, what a scary look. Am I supposed to be shaking in my bootstraps?" he asked.

"Why don't we let the fight answer that," Yusuke said. He to jump into the ring, but I grabbed hold of him.

"Yusuke," I said, he looked down at me as I wiped more tears from my eyes, "Bakken does _not_ leave that with ability to do anything more than fall into a painful coma. Do you understand me?"

"Damn right I do," he said. He climbed into the ring and stared him down.

"And the third match, Bakken versus Yusuke—you may begin," Koto said.

Bakken standing in the ring clenched every muscle in his body and began to sweat as if he was standing in a sauna. Eventually it began to pour onto the ground creating a puddle.

"What's wrong, Bakken? We haven't even started yet and you've already got a nervous sweat," Yusuke said. "Do you give up?"

"You really are an idiot, aren't you?" Bakken asked. He raised his hands up in the air over his head. "White Mist!"

His energy shot up and then steam started pour from every pore in his body, enveloping the stadium in a ball of mist.

"Great, now Urameshi can't see," Kuwabara said.

"Well he's won in the dark before, right?" Botan asked.

"Yusuke will be fine. I'm concerned about how incredibly gross this is," I said. "We are sitting a giant of sweat mist. And we're breathing it in. I'm going to have to roll around bleach to feel clean again."

"Incredibly, Bakken has covered the entire stadium in a ball of mist! Urameshi has no idea where's Bakken's first attack will come from, in fact neither do I! I can't even see my microphone in front of me!" Koto announced.

We waited, outside of the ring listening, then we heard the distinct sound of Yusuke smashing against the arena floor. Then again.

"It doesn't make a difference that you saved Kurama—different person, same results You're just a team filled with punching bags," I heard Bakken say.

Then I heard Yusuke laughed.

"What's so funny? Have I knocked you witless?" Bakken asked.

"No. I'm laughing because you had me worried when you hitting Kurama, but now that I've felt how soft your fists are I'm not too concerned," Yusuke said.

I managed a smile. "Oh, Yusuke."

"Now I see when you were scared when Jin touched you before," Yusuke said.

"I was not," Bakken said indignantly.

"Oh, come on! Your whole robe was shaking! I don't blame you. If this stupid sweat fog is your only trick I bet Jin could knock it away with one little gust of wind," Yusuke said.

"Shut your trap!" Bakken shouted. Yusuke had touched a nerve. "You're not a wind master are you? So you're getting ready to die! We'll see how soft my punches are."

Then I could feel Yusuke charging up for his Spirit Gun, and then BANG! He shot a hole in the stadium, clearing out the mist.

"Oh, sweat breathable oxygen!" I said.

"A beautiful attack from Yusuke! He's used the force of his spirit Gun to blow the mist out of the stadium," Koto announced.

"Let me put this to you as best I can," Yusuke said. "You have two options—you can stand there and let me beat the crap out of you like you did to Kurama or you can turn around, get on your knees and beg me not to hurt you and _maybe_ I'll listen. Those are your only options because you see, my partner over there is pretty pissed off and I know I'm not gonna hear the end of this unless you're humiliated or on life support."

"You dirty little son of a-!" Bakken spun around to hit Yusuke, but Yusuke got him square in the ribs. Listening to his bones crack was the highlight of my day.

"I think I know what that huddled over position means! I just wish everyone in the audience could've heard those cracking bones!" Koto cheered.

"Damn, I missed a few. You know those lower ribs are harder to reach," Yusuke said walking up to Bakken who was now sitting in the ground.

"Stay away, please! I think you must've punctured something!" Bakken said. "Please, have some mercy!"

"Mercy?" Yusuke asked. "Like the way you kept beating Kurama when he was laid out on the floor."

"No! It wasn't like that! I wasn't cruel to him! I was just excited! It was in the heat of battle! I don't even remember what I did to him. And whatever I did I didn't mean it," Bakken begged.

Yusuke stared down incredulously at Bakken. "I don't know—maybe you missed the memo Kairi put out, but the Spirit Detectives aren't really game with peole who mess with our teammates today."

Then Bakken started to weep.

"Hey, man, calm down. You're embarrassing me," Yusuke said.

But then Bakken picked up a chunk of the arena and smashed it over Yusuke's head.

"Oh, no this bitch didn't," I said.

Bakken looked quite frightened when Yusuke barely flinched at this.

"It's okay Bakken, you're brain's just small. It's not your fault you can't remember all those horrible things you did to Kurama," Yusuke said calmly. "SO I'M GONNA REFRESH YOUR MEMORY BY USING YOU BODY AS AN EXAMPLE!"

Yusuke was not so calm anymore. He grabbed Bakken and proceeded to punch him. I glanced away from the ring for only a moment to see that next to me, Kurama was beginning to stir.

After Yusuke had broken nearly every bone in Bakken's body, he launched him into the stands. Koto did her ten count and declared us the winner.

Yusuke jumped out of the ring and came over to the two of us.

"How are you?" Yusuke asked him.

"I'll survive. I'm sorry I couldn't take the first three as I had originally planned," Kurama said.

"Shut up, psycho. How are your wounds?" Yusuke asked.

"My injuries from Team Masho are nothing, but it will take a great deal of energy and concentration to remove the death plant," Kurama said. He chuckled softly. "I guess we really do reap what we sow."

"Enough with the plant humor, Crazy. Get some rest," I said.

"Yeah, I'm gonna turn these last two guys into fish paste," Yusuke said.

"Be cautious Yusuke. Whatever plans these Shinobi have for this island, they want it very badly. These last two members are undoubtedly the strongest," Kurama said.

"Maybe you forgot, Kurama, but we run this shit," Yusuke said. "Don't worry; you'll be recovering in no time."

Yusuke jumped into the ring and I turned to Kurama.

"Looks like telling me to be careful went in one ear and out the other," he said.

I shook my head. "Don't sweat it. I'm just glad you're gonna be okay."

"Quick question—why do I feel like I got hit by a truck?" Kurama asked.

"Right—you probably had no idea Bakken was pounding on you," I said.

"Really?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah. If he'd hit you one more time I was going to chop his head off and get us disqualified, but that didn't happen," I said.

"I'm glad I have you to watch my back," he said. "And I have yours—or I will, once I am slightly more able bodied."


	18. You Are the Wind Beneath My Fists

Jin and Yusuke both stood in the ring, staring each other down. While Yusuke looked irritated and serious from the day's events, Jin look intrigued and excited. The crowd had started up another chorus of "Kill Yusuke", when a look of irritation came over Jin.

"Damn it! I can't believe the ruckus they're washing up! You can't even make a thought!" Jin complained. "Of course I wouldn't mind if it weren't for the ears." He pointed to them. After that he started rambling on very excitedly, which made it very difficult to figure out his accent. Yusuke stared at him, confused, until Jin quieted down and whispered in Yusuke's ear.

And then they both started laughing.

Why is Urameshi laughing with the bad guy?" Kuwabara asked.

"I hardly think it matters anymore," I said.

"You're a crazy bastard, you know that?" Yusuke asked. "You went and put me in a good mood and I was about to use my anger at Bakken to knock you into the ground."

"Naw, don't lump me in with Biggie. He was just a jerk. Going in bearing a grudge is no way to start a fight. You'll never have any cheering up that way. Just good ol' fight to find the strongest guy is all," Jin said.

Then he created a whirlwind in the ring, causing Yusuke and Koto brace themselves, lest they be blown away. He lifted himself up into the air slightly.

"Hold onto your hats people! Jin is unleashing his power!" Koto announced. "He's floating several inches off the ring floor supported by his wind and I haven't even started the match yet!"

"What are our chances?" I asked.

". . . Pretty good, I'd say," Kurama said.

"And match fight four—Yusuke versus Jin, begin!" Koto declared.

Yusuke took off running at Jin, threw a punch, but Jin took off up into the sky.

"Oh, right, he can fly. That's. . . Useful to remember," I said watching Jin as he flew up higher and higher into the sky until he was so close to the sun he was barely visible by the sun's glare.

"Hey, come on! You've got a fight to lose!" Yusuke shouted.

And then Jin started back down toward us, he flew down past Yusuke, flying over the stands leaving a trail of wind in his wake.

"Nothing to be in a fuss for, Urameshi. A man's just got to get the right spirit before he fights," Jin said.

Jin rose back up into the air and zoomed toward Yusuke. When he was close enough, Yusuke went into kick in him the face, but Jin easily dodge him and punched Yusuke square in the jaw, sending him sailing across the ring.

Yusuke got to his feet. "Nice punch, though. This is gonna be fun!"

"We're a pair in a pod, never wanting to do anything the way people tell us to. Even if we don't make sense. Better to be messy on your own than right on someone's watch, am I right?" Jin asked.

"Well, yeah. Why let some teacher get all the credit. I figure, I've been doing all right on my own so far," he said.

"What on earth are they talking about up there—and they're both smiling," Botan said.

"I think he's finally found someone to complain with," Kuwabara said. "He's been kind of a loner ever since I can remember. The only one that can really talk to him is Kayko, and I'll be damned it I understand that relationship. But this Jin guy's just the same. He's like a twin."

"Well that'll make fighting him difficult," Botan said.

From behind us, Kurama started to make noise, like he was in pain.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Just laughing," he said. "It seems Botan doesn't know brothers very well."

"Right—all I want to do is kick my brothers' asses. I don't care how much I love them. Especially Gohan, he is one annoying son a bitch," I said. "And then there's Kurama."

"I'm not your brother," he said.

"You're as good as though now aren't you?" I asked. "And I can tell because the increased amount of time I've been spending with you has made me want to punch you in the face even more."

"I suppose you're right," Kurama said.

"Let me show you something I can do without the help of bosses flapping their gums," Jin said.

He squatted down slightly, shook out his hand and started to spin it, faster and faster and faster until there was a small cyclone on his arm.

"Whoa! I don't believe it! Jin has created miniature cyclone on his right arm! The wind is tremendous!" Koto announced.

"This is one of my favorites. Tornado fist's the name," Jin said.

Jin ran at Yusuke—the wind from the attack blew Yusuke out of the ring and it barely grazed him. He grabbed onto the concrete wall of the side of the stadium.

"Nice recovery! The wind from Jin's attack has blown Yusuke out of the ring and he's clung to the concrete like a fly on the wall, but I don't think he'll stay there for long! Here comes Jin for second helping!" Koto announced.

And she was right, Jin was flying at Yusuke. He managed to jump out of the way, and Jin slammed his fist into the wall, annihilating it along with a large portion of the audience.

"There's that audience participation you can only see here in this tournament! I love it!" Koto cheered. "I imagine that any of you that have survived that attack will remember it for years to come!"

"Audience participation? I hate that girl," Botan said.

"It doesn't matter how strong Urameshi is or how much fun he's having. If he gets hit straight on with Jin's attack he's screwed," Kuwabara said.

As the dust cleared, Jin was hovering above a massive crater he'd made, smiling cheerfully.

"It's been a good long while since I've been able to fight somebody and have any cheer about it. You know what I mean," Jin said.

"I think I do," Yusuke said.

The pair both made their back way into the ring. Jin geared up for another tornado fist, but Yusuke came at him swinging. Jin could barely block him Yusuke was so fast.

Yusuke was chasing him all around the ring, very, very fast.

"Kuwabara you can follow their movements right?" Botan asked.

"Me?" he asked. "Uh, yeah. I'm spiritually aware."

"Good you can inform. What's happening?" Botan asked.

"You mean right now?" he asked. "Uh. . . They're just. . . They're both punching each other very rapidly."

"That's very perceptive," she said frowning at him.

"Jin is a little bit slower than Yusuke. He's barely keeping up. Apparently, Jin's only got a speed advantage in the air," I said. "But unless he can think of some way to keep Jin on the ground then it doesn't really matter."

And then BAM! Yusuke got Jin right in the stomach, he went in for the kill and Jin flew up in the air and to safety.

Botan had had enough of this. She marched up to the ring.

"Miss Koto, why don't you stop with the sadist routine for a minute and do your job," Botan said.

"Excuse me?" Koto asked, obviously offended by the notion that she wasn't doing her job properly.

"Jin has been out of the ring for half the fight! Did it ever cross your mind to count to ten?" Botan asked.

"Article four: fighters are out of the ring when any other part of their body comes in contact with any solid surface other than the ring itself and air is not solid," Koto said matter-of-factly. "Why don't you stick to what you're good at, honey, like, dying your hair unnatural colors for instance."

"I swear! I'm going to hurt her!" Botan shouted.

"How is Urameshi supposed to have a fair fight is Jin can just run where ever he wants?" Kuwabara asked.

"The point is not to be fair it's too-."

Before I could even finish my sentence, Yusuke's patience ran out. He fired his Spirit Gun up into the air—the dumbest thing I think he could possibly do right now.

I thought Jin was just going to fly out of its way, but instead he turned himself into a tornado and launched the blast in another direction.

"Waste. Of. Energy." I said.

"No comments from the peanut gallery!" he shouted at me.

"Did we get that on video? PLEASE tell me we got that on video! Jin just used a wall of wind to turn Yusuke's blast into a space cadet," Koto said.

Jin floated back to the ground. "Don't be glum now. Every attack has to travel through the air to get to me and I control the air so you might as well just hand 'em all over and say 'do whatever you want with them, Jin!'"

He went on to laugh at his own joke and the crowd began a new chant "Jin's got the win!"

"So Yusuke can't use his long range attacks because Jin will just blow them away?" Botan asked.

"Yeah, so his Spirit Gun is pretty much useless. He's gonna have to use his fist to beat Jin!" Kuwabara said.

"But every time the tries to get his last hit in on Jin then he just flies away!" Botan pointed out. "So how in the flip is he supposed to hit him!"

"I don't know, Botan! Don't yell at me!" Kuwabara said.

Jon started up for another tornado fist and then flew at Yusuke, but he didn't move, until Jin was close up. He held up his right index finger and powered up for a Spirit Gun. If he fired that point blank into Jin's tornado there would be an explosion that would definitely hit Yusuke as well.

"Time to see who can take a bigger ass kicking," Yusuke said.

He fired in Jin's face and there was, as expected, a large explosion. When the light died away, there was a large crater in the ring.

"Oh, my! It seems that both fighters have been obliterated by the explosion! There's nothing left—not even a pile of ashes," Koto said. "Oh, wait! I stand corrected! Yusuke Urameshi has survived! Only Jin has been incinerated!"

Yusuke was knocked over by the medical tent. Jin had taken refuge in the air.

"Never mind! Jin is alive and looking quite perturbed!" Koto announced.

"And I thought I was crazy, but you take the prize! What the hell was that? You don't make bombs go boom in your face!" Jin shouted.

"I thought Yusuke had a clean shot," Kuwabara complained.

"He did for a moment, but just spotted his strategy and then used his tornado fist to change the air stream and deflect most of the blast upward," Kurama said.

"So what's he gonna do now?" Botan asked.

"I have no idea and I doubt he does either," I said.

"What! How can he not have a plan?" she shouted.

"It's Yusuke. This is the same guy who shot the Forlorn Hope with a Spirit Gun because he _assumed_ it would reflect and hit Hiei in the back. This is the same guy who _accidentally_ fell and nearly drowned in a hole and beat that guy in Genkai's tournament. And THEN got moss in his ears and accidentally beat Rando. Shall I go on?" I asked.

"We're doomed," Kurama said.

"Come on, he's always able to think of something, or succeed accidentally. The universe might be working in our favor today," I said.

"Maybe you haven't been paying attention, Kairi, but this is the worst day any of us has had in a very long time," Kurama said.

"Yes—two of our members are being held hostage and the other two are half dead," Botan said. "And our captain is an idiot."

"Well, think of it this way—if Jin kill's Yusuke I can step in and fight and everything will be okay!" I said. "But then I'd be sad."

By this point Koto had started her 10 count. On seven Yusuke had jumped back in the ring and looked back to Hiei.

"Don't get excited, Hiei. I'm gonna take on their leader just as soon as I handle, Jin," Yusuke said.

"Oh, just as soon as you beat Jin, you say? Better fix yourself quick then. Last I remember it was you rolling around on the floor trying to stay up," Jin said.

"Yeah, but this time I thought I'd try," Yusuke said.

"Funny man, Urameshi! Then I'll try as well," Jin said. This time Jin started spinning both of his arms, prepared for two Tornado fists.

"Ooh, baby. Two tornado fists going on at once. I think we've got a challenge!" Koto said.

"Harumph," I said. "Two fists, one finger."

"We'd better hope that he's feeling creative," Kuwabara said.

Yusuke apparently was because he took a stance that I'd seen before, and then his aura started glow.

"Oh, my Kai! He's going to try to use Genkai's Spirit Wave technique," I said.

"Is that a good thing?" Kurama asked.

"Well yes. It's Genkai's signature, her most powerful technique, he could definitely use it to defeat Jin, but. . ." I trailed off.

"Kairi, no cliffhangers! And what?" Kuwabara asked.

"If he uses it improperly it could destroy him from the inside out," I said.

". . . That's not a good thing, Kairi," Kurama said.

"I know," I said. "Want some more bad news? . . . He told me he didn't learn how to use it just quite yet."

". . . Well, he has a history of surprises. Perhaps he will succeed," Kurama said.

Jin nose dived toward Yusuke, who was cranking out an enormous amount of energy. Jin went in to punch Yusuke, but in an incredible turn of events he grabbed Jin's fist and disable his first tornado. When Jin went in with the second fist, which Yusuke blocked with his foot. Then Yusuke went in with an incredibly powerful punch, launching Jin into the sky.

"Rocket launch spectacular!" Koto cheered doing a twirl. "Sorry, guys but at a punch party like that, a girl can't help but dance!"

The crowd was offended.

I let out a sigh of relief and watched the sky for a moment.

"Hmm. . ." I said looking into the stands.

"What?" Kuwabara asked.

"Kayko and Shizuru are sitting there," I said pointing.

"Yes," Botan said.

"And Yusuke shot Jin into the sky there?" I asked pointing again.

"Yes," Botan asked.

"Right," I said. Just as I was going to call out to them, Shizuru grabbed Kayko and pulled her away.

"Where are they going?" Botan asked.

"Shizuru's can probably already sense it," I said. "Don't worry about it."

Jin started falling from the sky and landed right where Kayko and Shizuru had been sitting.

"Kayko!" Yusuke called out.

"She's fine. Shizuru sensed it and got them out of the way," I said.

"Jin seems to be out cold unable to use his wind power to stop himself from smashing into the stands—gee I better count!" Koto said.

She started counting and the audience was fuming. Jin struggled to his feet, but then face-planted into the stands as Koto reached ten.

"And team Urameshi takes its fourth win!" Koto announced.

"Thank goodness," I said.


	19. A Noble Idiot is Still An Idiot Part Two

_[A/N: Conclusion of round three. BTW, be sure to send all reviews to the reviews and not to my inbox. Thankie mucho!]_

Risho climbed into the ring and pulled his cloak off. He was exceptionally pale, with a bowl cut, wearing all black with an orange sash going from shoulder to shoulder, and on his shoulders were crimson colored pads that were like giant jewels.

"This fight decides the round!" Koto announced.

"Sorry to say, Yusuke Urameshi, but you're going to die without ever laying a finger on me," Risho said.

"Begin!" Koto announced.

"All right, I'm kicking your ass on principle!" Yusuke said charging Risho.

"Stop this fight immediately!" The tournament committee announced.

Yusuke stopped so suddenly he face planted.

"They're up to something," Kurama said.

"Why are they doing this to us?" I groaned.

"Tournament committee, please clarify, why have you interrupted this fight?" Koto asked.

"After reviewing the tape of the last fight, it has been discovered that Koto delayed her 10 count significantly during Yusuke's first ring out," the y said.

"Since when do we pay attention to that?" Koto asked, confused.

"Therefore, by complete and unanimous decisions. . ."

"They tell me to delay," Koto said.

"Yusuke's fight versus Jin has been declared a double loss making Yusuke ineligible to fight in this round."

"Well, that's the biggest crap job I've ever heard in my life!" Botan shouted.

"So. . . Kuwabara's too injured to fight. You're hurt and ineligible. Yusuke's ineligible, Hiei and Masked Fighter are ineligible and I'm the alternate. . ." I said.

". . . Our team is out of the tournament," Kurama said.

"How is this even possible?" I asked. "Kurama, what are we supposed to do now?"

Koto dropped the microphone out of her hand.

"What are you waiting for; bestow our team with the victory," Risho said.

Koto shook her head and picked the microphone up from the ground.

"No. As an experienced tournament officiator, I must object," she said.

_Thank you, Koto!_

"There will be no further deliberation," the committee ruled.

Koto looked absolutely devastated, just as devastated as the rest of us. She didn't want this match to be over either. She knew something was amiss here. Someone was ruining this tournament, her baby. She was being denied the thrill of a great fight, and what was worse, _she_ was being blamed for it.

The audience didn't mind that we'd just gotten screwed out of the tournament. They didn't know that we were all going to be killed if we lost this tournament. They didn't care.

To my surprise, an injured Touya stumbled out to the ring.

"Risho, this deceit has gone too far," Touya said climbing into the ring. "Son't you see, we'll make a mockery of their sacrifices. Gamma willfully gave his life so that we could win—not cheat our way out."

"Spare your romantic dribbles, Touya. He fought for the light, now we're going to enjoy it," Risho said.

"But, honor," Touya said.

Risho created some sort of stone armor on his arm and smacked Touya out of the ring with it. then he vanished it.

"We must always keep our eye on the prize, Touya. That is why I am the leader. And you are the grunt," Risho said. "And you, Koto, do you t hink it wise to be taking the side of the humans in this stadium."

Risho approached Koto threateningly, but then Yusuke stepped in to come to her rescue.

"You seem really anxious to intimidate everyone but me," Yusuke said. "What do you think that means?"

"Detective, don't waste your time trying to change their minds," Hiei said from the tent. "Fight by their rules and you'll be pulled down with them. There's only one true law of the tournament. The strongest man prevails."

Hiei was about to rip the tent from the ground and destroy Ruka.

"I've retrieved enough energy to rip my way out. Let's show this entire stadium a new definition of victory," Hiei said.

"They're gonna kill us anyway so why don't we take on every damn freak 'til no one's left," Yusuke said. "That sounds good to me. I'm already about to go off. What do you say partner?"

"I'm with you. I've been feeling antsy all day," I said.

Over by the medical tent, Ruka was giving up on holding Hiei hostage. His energy was exploding all over the place.

"UGH! I hate to see such a good competitor go out of the game without having the chance to inflict pain on someone," Koto groaned, "but, due to Yusuke's ineligibility and because there are no other members on his team available to fight, and as Team Masho still has a competitor, the winner by default is-."

"Wait right there!" Kuwabara had gotten to his feet. "There's still one person on Team Urameshi who can fight."

"You do realize Kairi can't fight either, right?" Yusuke asked.

Kuwabara ripped off his shirt and threw it to the ground. "Let's go!"

"You're kidding me!" Yusuke said.

"The boy can't even walk without doubling over! As the team trainer I must say this is a ridiculous idea!" Botan said.

"So this is basically giving us a choice between Tuguro killing us _now_ or Tuguro killing us _later_. And one of these plans involves Kuwabara being murdered and humiliated," I said. I shook my head. "This is a plan that only Hiei can approve of."

"I can handle this you guys! Remember that lady from the medical tent took Hiei and the Masked Fighter off and said I was okay," Kuwabara said.

"Dumbass, she was really a nurse!" I shouted.

"It doesn't change the fact that I'm the only left who's able to fight!" Kuwabara said.

"Yes, but eligible and _able_ are two different words," Hiei said.

"You shut up, Shrimp!" Kuwabara shouted. Before keeling over in pain. Yusuke ran up to him.

"See! You're in no shape," Yusuke said.

"I'm going to fight unless you want to kill me yourself," Kuwabara said. "I know they're cheating us, I know you're angry and I know what happens if we lose, but if you and Hiei and Kairi go on some tirade destroying people until you get your way, you'll be just like them. Let's win this thing clean like-."

"Like men," Yusuke finished.

"How touching," Hiei said, rolling his eyes.

"Bite my ankles, Shorty! I swear, I'll make you cry to your mom!" Kuwabara retorted. "If you even have a mom!"

He climbed into the ring.

"Fighters please enter the center of the ring!" Koto called out. I sat down on the ground next to Kurama. Kuwabara was dragging himself to the center of the ring, but you could tell how much pain he was in with each step he took.

"This is dismal, but at least it will give us time to consider our options," Kurama said.

"He's killing himself," Yusuke said.

I latched my fingers onto my ponytail and started tugging at it anxiously. There had to be something we could do to save Kuwabara and get out of this tournament with everyone alive. This wasn't at all the way things were supposed to turn out.

"Your heroics are quite misplaced," Risho said.

"Just keep talking, cheater. I'll just make it more tough on you," Kuwabara said.

"There must be some way we can prevent this disaster," Kurama said anxiously.

"Kairi could always go and handle the tournament committee," Yusuke suggested.

"At this point, I feel like doing that would just make things worse," I said pulling the rubber band out of my hair and undoing my braid. "We are sitting ducks."

"I'm happy to avoid your embarrassment. Why don't you surrender?" Risho offered.

"I don't get the spotlight very often, and I ain't gonna mess this up!" Kuwabara said.

"Match six, Team Urameshi, Kuwabara. Team Masho, Risho," Koto announced. "BEGIN!"

Kuwabara charged Risho, starting to pull out his Spirit Sword, but he did not succeed and ending up taking a fierce kick in the back from Risho, sending him sailing across the ring. The beating didn't stop. Risho kept laying into a defenseless Kuwabara.

"Don't let that creep just beat you up! Show some freaking balls!" Yusuke shouted.

"We all know he's proven enough. It's a miracle he's even standing," Kurama pointed out.

I took a lock of my hair and it found its way into my mouth. I had to think of something. We all had to Kuwabara couldn't use his spirit energy because it was keeping him alive so he couldn't beat Risho. Once Kuwabara lost, Tuguro was going to come and kill us _and_ the girls.

Speaking of Kayko and Shizuru, it probably wasn't a good idea to leave them alone considering the circumstances. I looked around for Botan to go retrieve them, but she'd vanished.

"Where did Botan go?" I asked.

"I don't know. She left before the match even started," Yusuke grumbled.

I looked up into the stands and the girls had disappeared as well. There was only one thing I could do. I pulled out my phone and called Kayko.

"You're on the phone now?" Yusuke asked.

"Shut up! I'm trying to find your girlfriend who has mysteriously vanished from the arena!" I shouted at him.

"Kairi?" Kayko whispered into the phone.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"Can't talk right now. We're hiding from security!" she whispered.

"Kairi? Thank goodness it's you. How is Kuwabara doing?" Botan asked suddenly.

"Losing, badly, obviously. Where are you guys?" I asked.

"We'll be with you soon, but we have to go. Oh, yes—Yukina's here," Botan said.

I watched Kuwbara take another hit to the face as I absorbed Botan's words.

"You're kidding," I said.

"I am not. She's right here next to me. Say hello, Yukina."

"Hello?"

"Oh. My. Kai," I said.

"Got to go! Bye!"

The line went dead and I brought the phone down from my ear.

"More bad news?" Yusuke asked.

". . . Yukina's here," I said.

". . . Shut up," Kurama said.

"Why would I lie about that right now?" I asked.

"Just when we thought today couldn't get any worse," Yusuke said.

Risho leapt up into the air and sent Kuwabara across the ring with a kick to the face.

"I'm going to start the count now, so everyone make sure to tell me how I'm doing it wrong, okay?" Koto said, scathingly.

She started counting and Kuwabara was back on his feet by nine.

"Kuwabara's back on his feet! I think he's setting some kind of record for willpower," Koto said.

"Yep, that's our, Kuwabara," I said.

Kuwabara stumbled toward Risho, who merely kicked him in the face again.

"I have no more time to nurse your heroics. I've got a prize to take," Risho said.

"A real man earns what he wants," Kuwabara said.

Risho leapt over him outside of the ring, behind him,

"All right, Kuwabara. You'll see I'm quite capable of that," he said.

"Risho has willfully stepped out of the ring. What could he be planning?" Koto asked.

Risho took his right index finger and held upward in front of his face.

"Each Shinobi is a master of something," Risho said. "Weren't you wondering what mine was?"

The ground started to shake and a swirl of dirt came up around Risho.

"I'm a master of earth, and it makes for excellent armor of clay!" Risho said.

Suddenly, Risho was covered in armor on his shins, arms, and torso.

"In addition to protection, this armor turns my whole body into a weapon," Risho leaping into the air. "Let me show you how! Meteor!"

He crashed into Kuwabara and again sent him sailing across the ring.

I sprang to my feet as if I was going to be able to do something.

Koto started her 10 count, but Kuwabara got back to his feet again.

"This is torture," I said, taking lock of my hair into my mouth again.

"Why? Why don't you quit?" Risho complanied.

"You dummy, guess you haven't checked the score this round. We've got four wins and you've got two and the first team to five advances. Urameshi and Kurama gave it all for us and now I've still got a way to bring it home for us," Kuwabara said.

My stomach was in knots again. Why was Kuwabara doing this? Because he knew if he died we'd still be able to advance to the next round if he defeated Risho? Was this really worth it? I didn't think so. If Kuwabara used his life energy and beat Risho, he'd be dead by the time any of us got to him.

"Using your life energy will only delay this. You're still going to die," Risho said.

"No joke, moron. That's the whole point of this—as long as I take you with me," Kuwabara said. "If this fight ends in a draw, my team wins and the rest of my team gets to live."

Kuwabara was silent for a moment before he turned around and looked to me and Yusuke.

". . . Kairi, Urameshi. . . Just take care of the rest of this okay?" he said.

"Don't you dare do this, Kuwabara!" I shouted.

"Let's not get into. I want to keep my finish nice and manly," Kuwabara said. "You ready, Risho?"

Risho jumped into the air preparing for what would surely be his last meteor attack of the tournament. Kuwabara ran at him. When they connected, Kuwabara was holding him off.

"Kazuma!"

I looked off to the side to see Yukina, Botan, and Kayko at the wall of the stadium.

Kuwabara noticed her too.

"Hey, she's here!" Kuwabara said.

"What are you blabbering about?" Risho asked.

Kuwabara was suddenly enraged. "I'm not blabbering, she's my girlfriend!" He hurled Risho into the sky, slamming him in the ground and out of the ring. Kuwabara then ran over to the girls and started showing off, as usual.

"I will never understand that bastard," Yusuke said.

"It seems that a lady friend of Kuwabara's has come to witness the brutality. They seemed to be engaged in small talk right now," Koto said.

Risho, was pissed. He climbed out from the pile of rubble Kuwabara had buried him in and got to his feet. "THIS IS RIDICULOUS!"

He stacked a larger coat of armor over his initial armor and charged Kuwabara. Seeing Yukina had, for some reason, given him an extra boost of strength and his handy, dandy Spirit Sword was back.

With one slice, Risho's armor was destroyed and with another, he flung Risho into the stands. He climbed back in the ring in time for Koto to count Risho and finally, after the worst day ever, we were declared the winners.

I plopped back down onto the ground next to Kurama and laid my head on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I will never recover from all of the emotional scarring I went through today. Just thought you should know," I said. "This is partly your fault for being such a crazy mother effer."

"At least this day is over," he said.

I let out a sigh. He was right. Today was over. Tomorrow, we were free from the stadium for a while, but after that, we were going to be back for the semi-finals, and back into this circus.


	20. After the Storm

_[A/N: Ten points if you can find the "That 70's Show" quote.]_

I was glad the tournament was behind us for the day. I couldn't handle another emotional rollercoaster ride like what I'd been put through today.

I collapsed down onto the couch as the door opened and Hiei entered.

"Welcome back," I said.

"Where are the others?" Hiei asked.

"Kurama is resting for a while. I don't know where Masked Fighter is, Yusuke is off with Kayko either arguing with her, making out with her, or both, and Kuwabara is getting a special healing treatment from Yukina which I'm sure isn't as dirty as I made it sound just now," I said.

At the mention of Yukina's name, Hiei seemed to completely zone out as he closed the door behind himself.

"What is she even doing here?" he asked.

I sighed. "You'll be upset if I tell you."

"Tell me anyway," he said plopping down next to me on the couch.

"She's looking for you," I said.

"For me?" he asked.

"Not specifically. Someone in her village told her she had a twin brother and thus her search for this twin brother began," I said. "I'm sure you'd like to find this ice apparition and rip their throat out or something. Is that accurate to how you're feeling right now?"

"Somewhat," he said. "And yourself?"

"I feel sick," I said. "There's too much adrenaline in my body and no one to punch."

"You could always punch Kuwabara," Hiei suggested.

"Yes, but considering how much of a fuss we were making over him dying, I think it would be counterproductive to injure him further," I said.

"You and your morals," Hiei said.

"I know, they're just keeping me down," I said. "I really was going to kill that Ruka woman, but she ran off."

"Don't worry. She's thoroughly traumatized," Hiei said. "And anyway, she's just another one of the tournament committee's flunkies. Hardly worth your time."

"It's only a waste of time if I don't enjoy it," I said.

"And from the way you enjoyed massacring Doctor Ichigaki, I can assure you that you wouldn't have," he said.

"You see me kill someone once and suddenly you seem to know a lot about what I would or would not enjoy," I said.

"I ask you why Yukina is here and you know the exact method of murder I would use to get rid of certain ice apparitions," Hiei said.

"It sounds cool when you say it, but would you really want to rip someone's throat out? I mean, instant kill, but then you'd have all this blood all over your hands and it would be really gross. And I know you always run the risk of getting bloody, but your jugular is in your neck. I mean, that's still in your neck right?" I asked reaching out and touching his neck.

"What are you doing?" he asked, seeming mildly horrified that I was touching him.

"Trying to feel your pulse in your neck," I said. "You know you've got really soft skin to have such a callous personality."

"Stop touching me," Hiei said.

"No! I can't feel your pulse," I said, slightly distressed. "I'm usually really good at finding a pulse."

"That is not an actual skill," Hiei said.

"Don't doubt me, you fool," I said. I took my hand away from his neck and leaned forward to put my head on his chest where his heart was to try to listen for it.

"Does personal space mean nothing to you?" he asked, very offended now.

"Obviously not," I said. "But there are more important things to worry about—you do not have a heart beat or a pulse. Are you a zombie?"

"Obviously not," he replied, irritated.

"Then why don't you have a heartbeat—it's because you're dead inside isn't it?" I asked, jokingly.

I heard the door to our bedroom open and heard Kurama walk out.

I immediately sat up and looked over to him.

"Do you two want to be alone?" he asked, with a smirk.

"Shut up, Kurama," Hiei and I said in unison.

Before Kurama could continue to humiliate the pair of us further, the hotel door opened and Kuwabara walked in with Yukina, Shizuru, and Kayko in two.

"Sup guys," Kuwabara said.

"Nothing much. How are you feeling now?" I asked.

"Much better thanks to my Yukina," Kuwabara said. Hiei rolled his eyes in disgust.

"It's very good to see you all again, Kurama, Kairi, and Hiei," Yukina said, bowing slightly as she had when I'd met her before. I found it difficult to believe that someone as kind hearted and sweet as Yukina was related to Hiei.

"It's good to see you again, also," Kurama said.

"I'll be going," Hiei said getting to his feet.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"Away," he said going out of the door.

"Well, he's not very sociable," Kayko said.

"No, he never has been that I know of," I said.

". . . I feel like I know him from somewhere," Kayko said.

"Probably because he. . ." I started, but then I realized jogging Kayko's memory about Hiei kidnapping her and trying to kill her might not be the greatest idea in the world.

"He what?" Kayko asked.

"He's just got one of those faces," I said.

"Right, because so many people have three eyes," Shizuru said.

"At any rate, I'll go and make sure he stays out of trouble," Kurama said following Hiei out of the door.

"So, Kairi," Kuwabara said as everyone finally settled into seats, "I never got a chance to ask you where you learned to fight like that!"

"You mean that move I used on Ichigaki?" I asked. "It's the Destructo Disk. I learned from my dad's friend, Krillin. It's mostly only useful when you want to make a point. The version of the attack I used today was pretty botched because they take forever to make and I can't control them once I throw them. Ichigaki wasn't very strong though so it didn't make much of a difference."

"You were like a completely different person today. I've never seen you so. . . Angry before," Kayko said.

"But I am kind of disappointed that you didn't chop that Bakken's guy's head off," Shizuru said lighting a cigarette.

"Yeah, what an awful person," Kayko said. "You said Kurama is your cousin right?" I nodded. "But he's a demon—so are you a demon too."

"No. I'm a weirdo of a different variety," I said.

Then the door opened again and Yusuke walked in. Sitting on top of his head was a little blue bird creatures with a tuft of black hair atop his head and little orange feet. It was adorable.

Yusuke looked peeved and was followed by a giggling Botan.

"What on earth is that thing?" Shizuru asked.

"Go on and tell them Yusuke. I'm sure everyone's eager to hear," Botan teased him.

"Why don't you just shut up, okay!" he shouted at her.

"Go on, partner, explain," I said.

". . . So remember after I got hit by that car and I died and then I got brought back to life?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes," I said.

"And remember how they made me go through that whole ordeal?" he asked.

"The Spirit Egg?" I asked. Yusuke nodded and then pointed to his head. My jaw dropped. "No."

"Yes," he admitted.

I tried to restrain my laugh.

"What is it?" Kayko asked.

"That, Kayko, is Yusuke's Spirit Beast which. . . Is a reflection of his inner-self," I said before doubling over in laughter.

It wasn't long before the rest of the room fell into laughter as well.

After Yusuke had be sufficiently teased Kayko, Shizuru, Botan, and Yukina took over fawning over Yusuke's spirit beast.

"So did you know the semi-finals aren't until the day after tomorrow?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yeah I heard. The committee made us fight two rounds in a row just because they wanted us wiped out. They're just like everyone else in charge," Yusuke complained.

"Puu!" His little spirit beast flapped his giant ears and flew over to Yusuke and landed on his head.

"You know, when you two are next to each other you kind of look alike—he's even got your hair," Kayko said.

"I'll say the little booger's got my hair. He's got it right between his retarded claws and he ain't lettin' go," Yusuke said. "He better not leave me any spirit surprises!"

"Oh, wow! Look at the time! Is it that late already?" Botan asked.

"Time flies when you're mocking Yusuke mercilessly," Shizuru said.

"Let's go," Botan said.

"Yeah, get lost for all I care," Yusuke said as the girls walked out of the room.

"And remember Yusuke, we've got an early match tomorrow that determines who we fight in the next and we want a sneak peak," Botan said before closing the door behind her.

"Goodnight, Urameshi," Kuwabara said going into his room.

"All right and what've you got to say?" Yusuke asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing."

"Liar," Yusuke said.

"Seriously. I'm way too exhausted to tease you," I said.

"Where's Hiei and Kurama?" Yusuke asked.

"Not here to tease you, and that's what's important," I said.

888

The next morning, I went with Hiei and Kurama to the stadium to watch team Urautogi fight team Gokei 6. It was very uneventful being that it only took Team Urautogi two minutes to annihilate the other team.

Their captain hadn't fought, he didn't need to. He sat on the sidelines and watched. His name was Shishi Wakamaru. He was tall, blue hair, and the kind of face that made all of the Dark Tournament fangirls, and even myself, shamefully, swoon.

"We will be the Grand Champions," Shishi said as he prepared his team leave. "Until then, everyone else is just practice. Everyone." He pointed to Hiei Kurama and me in the stands and then walked out.

"What an arrogant fool," Hiei said.

"Which is a shame because he's gorgeous," I said.

"I'll pretend you didn't say that," Kurama said.

I laughed as the rest of our team and Botan showed up.

"Well, look who it is," Kuwabara said. "Guess you guys have the same idea we did about scoping out the competition for the semi-finals."

"_Had_ the same idea. The fight is over," Kurama said.

"What?" Kuwabara asked.

"And so the first match of the semi-finals will see team Urameshi facing off against the unbeatable, unbelievable, unstoppable, team Urautogi!" Koto cheered.

"This is unbelievable. I can't believe we missed the entire fight because I took a couple of extra minutes to brush my teeth," Kuwabara said.

"It was an impressive sight to behold," Kurama said.

"Yeah. It's not every day you see an entire team get their ass kicked in two minutes," I said.

"Though I'm sure your minty fresh breath was well worth the delay," Hiei said looking over to Kuwabara before spotting Yusuke with his Spirit Beast, which had been affectionately named "Puu". "What is that ridiculous appendage growing out of your head all about?"

"It's just a puberty thing okay?" Yusuke said dismissively. "So, Kurama, how's your wound treating you?"

"It'll be fine. I'll be fighting again tomorrow," Kurama said.

"Seems it's not as bad as you made us think," Hiei said.

"Compared with your energy loss, no, it seems it's not," Kurama said.

I laughed. "That was a burn about a burn! That's second degree burn!"

"Hey! I got an idea you guys! Ask Yukina to use her healing power! She's amazing! As soon as she touches you, you'll feel better than you ever have before!" Kuwabara said. "She's actually pretty too. She's actually partially here to look for her long, lost twin brother. I'm gonna help her look for him just as soon as we win this tournament."

"Did you hear that, Hiei? Yukina has a brother!" I said nudging him, restraining a laugh.

"Yes, sounds like a noble cause. We should assist her too Hiei," Kurama joined in.

"Yeah, you could even lend an eye!" Yusuke laughed.

"Will you shut up," Hiei growled as the three of us tried in vain to restrain our laughter.

"Wait, what's going on? Did I miss something? What are you all laughing about?" Kuwabara asked.

"You heard that thing Hiei said about that thing on my head right?" Yusuke said.

"Yeah, it wasn't that funny," Kuwabara complained.

We continued to laugh until Yusuke looked over to Genkai.

"Hey! What the hell is your problem?" he shouted at her.

She said nothing, but drew our attention to the other side of the arena. There stood Team Tuguro.

Tuguro and his older, creepier brother stood in the middle. On his other side there was a man dressed in all black, with long black hair, and a mask covering his mouth. On his other side, was a tall man covered from head to toe in heavy looking armor. They stared us down from the other side of the ring.

The crowd started to chant "Tuguro!" over and over.

Tuguro pointed over at us and then back at himself.

Yusuke returned this gestured by taking his thumb, dragging it across his neck and then giving him a thumbs down.

Tuguro smirked and then he and his team turned and walked out.

"At least your act is tough," Genkai said.

"Hey! I work hard at it!" Yusuke said.

"No. This can't be. How could I have missed it for so long? They must've shielded their energy from detection. I feel so. . .light headed." Kuwabara dropped down to his knees. "We can't compete with these guys, Urameshi. What are we gonna do?"


	21. Et tu Brtue?

After Kuwabara's mild heart attack, we went back to our locker room to try to calm him.

"It's not that big of a deal, Kuwabara and us bitching about it isn't going to help," Yusuke said. "You probably feel their powers now because your senses got better. Tuguro's the one who made us come to this tournament. None of us thought it was going to be a joyride, but we can beat him, okay?'

"Tisk, tisk, tisk." Our door swung open and Team Urautogi stood in our door way.

"Don't you all think you are forgetting about someone?" Shishi asked. His whole team chuckled.

"No one of real importance," I said dismissively.

"Who's that?" Kuwabara asked.

"My guess is the freak show rejects," Yusuke said.

They all introduced themselves—Kuro Momotaro, Makintaro, Ura Urishima, Shishi Wakamaru, and Onji.

"If you guys are looking for us to go easy on you you're wasting your, and more importantly our precious time," Yusuke said.

Kuro was chewing something and spit it out on the floor.

"Gross," I said.

"Nah, it's the exact opposite, we want a good fight," he said.

"We will be famous, but we're going to need more than two minutes of exposure to get that way, Shishi said.

"You know, just because you're cute doesn't mean you can open your mouth and spew out whatever arrogant bullshit you want," I said.

Shishi laughed. "Hi pot. I'm kettle. You're black."

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Pretty girl alternate goes running her mouth off about giving everyone hell just because Spirit World says she can? And she does with a sparkle in her eye and a skip in her step," he said. "Spirit Detective or not, it's dangerous for a human girl to go spouting off like that in front of all those demons. Those little nothings in the audience may not be a bother to you, but there are others among you who might take what you said as a challenge."

"And I might take what you said as a threat," I said.

"You would do well to, because tomorrow when defeat Team Urameshi we intend to be rid of the _whole_ team, even the pretty ones," he said.

"Gosh, I know I should be frightened, but I can't help but feel flattered," I said.

"Laugh now, Detective, but you won't be able to hide behind your boys forever," he said.

"I'm not hiding, Shishi. Trust me, if circumstances were different I would be kicking your ass tomorrow with a smile on my face," I said.

"I would love to see that," Shishi said finally turning to leave.

"Whichever of you boys takes on Shishi tomorrow, please, don't touch his face. That would be such a waste and I'm sure he wouldn't like it," I said.

Shishi stopped and turned back. Suddenly, he'd grown horns and fangs.

"We'll get ugly soon enough, Detective! Just you wait!" he declared, before leaving.

I rolled my eyes.

"Well, Kairi, I'd say your ability to instantly make someone want to kill you surpasses even Hiei's," Kurama said.

"I try," I said. "As for the rest of you, try not to make me eat my words. It'd be super awkward if we lost tomorrow after that flagrant display of assholery I just put on."

"Meh, those guys aren't even worth two minutes. Their power is nothing compared to Tuguro's," Kuwabara said.

"We could always wear blindfolds. That way it would be more amusing," Yusuke said.

"Pride is for the weak, Yusuke," Genkai said suddenly.

"Leave me alone!" he shouted at her as Botan popped up in the door way carrying soda. "Stop looking at me like that, you masked freak!" Yusuke punched a wall, startling Botan into dropping the drinks. "If you got something to say, say it!"

"It's quite simple really, if the leader of team Tuguro is _Tuguro_, then the leader of team Urameshi should be Yusuke Urameshi. The question I'm posing is do you have what it takes to beat Tuguro all by yourself, Yusuke Urameshi?" Genkai asked.

"Guys, break it up. Let's try and get along," Kuwabara said.

"Kuwabara's right. Can we please talk this through peacefully?" Botan asked.

"You think you should lead this team instead of me?" Yusuke asked.

"If necessary. Follow me," she said walking out of the locker room.

"Yeah! Let's take this outside!" Yusuke said angrily.

"Yusuke! Don't be so stupid!" Botan called after him.

"Let them be," Hiei said. "They're going to have to settle this on their own."

"Yeah, that's what we're afraid of. Those two are so strong and so angry they might settle this all the way to the death and that's no good," Kuwabara said.

"It's a shame, but there's nothing we can do," Hiei said.

"And even if there were anything that could be done it's hardly our place to interfere with their affairs," Kurama said.

"How can you possibly say those things? Can't you see they could tear this team apart!" Botan said. ". . . And none of you even seem to be bothered enough to care."

Botan ran out of the room in a huff.

"Not going to console her, Kairi? That hardly seems like you," Kurama said.

"She's in a fuss over nothing. They're not going to tear the team apart. They're not going to kill each other. I doubt they'll even want to fight each other," I said.

"What makes you so sure?" Hiei asked.

"Let's chalk it up to woman's intuition and leave it at that," I said.

"You are hiding something," Hiei said. "Obviously you know more about this situation than you're letting on."

"You are correct my good sir! And I intend to keep this itsy bitsy but ever so crucial detail to myself until it's actually relevant so. . . End of discussion," I said. "What do you say we go find some food? I'm famished."

888

It was late into the afternoon and Yusuke and Genkai didn't turn back up. I wasn't worried though. She was probably scolding him or something like always.

The sky had grown dark and it had started to pour down rain and being that all of my teammates were still recuperating in one form or another, we were all gathered in the common room eating snacks and playing cards, except for Hiei mostly just stared out of the window.

"That masked lady and Urameshi sure have been gone a long time," Kuwabara said.

"Indeed," Kurama said.

"Are you sure nobody needs to go out and look for them?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yes," I replied. "Don't you trust me?"

"Not as far as I can throw you," Kurama said.

"In all fairness you're pretty strong and I'm pretty tiny—you could probably throw me pretty far," I said.

"What do you think about or chances? Two more rounds and we get to go home," Kuwabara said.

"These are the semi-finals. It will definitely be a challenge to overcome. We'll be moved to a new stadium with an even wilder crowd, and I'm sure the committee will do anything to thwart us," Kurama said.

"It doesn't bother me. Bring on the guns and the arrows. It's nothing I'm afraid of," Kuwabara said.

As the conversation ended, the door swung open and the girls appeared with more snacks and soda.

"You know, you could've knocked, Botan. We're discussing important business here," Kuwabara said.

"And how do you explain the cards in your hand?" Botan asked.

"I guess you've never seen a mobster movie," Kuwabara said.

"Has your back injury healed yet, Kazuma?" Yukina asked.

"Oh, yeah, it was just a scratch. You want to play some cards with us?" Kuwabara asked.

"Sure! Sounds fun," she said.

"Um. . . Have you seen, Yusuke?" Kayko asked.

"He's still out with the masked fighter," Kurama said. "We're not sure where."

"I see. I hope he's all right. Puu's been acting really funny. He doesn't even want to fly," Kayko said.

"Whatever he's doing, I'm sure he can handle it, Kayko," Botan said. "Let's just have some fun, okay?"

"That's right baby brother. Enjoy yourself. This might be your last night in the living. I won't tell mom if you drink your first beer," Shizuru teased.

"Gosh darn it, Shizuru, you always gotta embarrass me in front of my friends!" Kuwabara complained.

It wasn't long before our thoughts drifted away from Yusuke and Genkai and turned to actually relaxing before we were sent back to the wolves tomorrow. I hated the card games, but I did enjoy the company for once and to be talking about something other than wondering how people were going to try kill everyone tomorrow.

"I'm getting the hang of this five card draw," Kuwabara said.

"You should come join us, Hiei. We're all practically family over here," Kurama teased.

"Quiet, Kurama, before I rip out your precious voice box," Hiei threatened from the window.

"Yeah. Kurama, leave him alone. You know Hiei doesn't enjoy social activities that don't allow him to hit people in the face, and can you blame him?" I asked.

"You're quite right, Kairi. Besides, I'm sure Hiei has had enough of our teasing for a day," Kurama agreed.

"Yeah, Kairi, let's talk about you," Shizuru said.

"Me? I'm afraid there's not much to tease me about," I said.

"Oh, sure there," Kuwabara said. "Give me a second and I'll think of something."

"I know!" Kayko said suddenly, "have you talked to Trunks lately?"

I leered at her.

"Who's Trunks?" Shizuru asked.

"A boy from school that Kairi likes," Kayko said.

"Oh, please, where'd you get an idea like that?" I asked.

"From watching the two of you. Where else?" Kuwabara put in.

"You too, Kuwabara? You're supposed to be on my side," I said. "You know I don't like Trunks."

"Is he cute?" Shizuru asked.

"He's okay," I said with a shrug.

Kayko scoffed. "Kairi, you're lying through your teeth! I can't believe you!"

"What? I didn't say he was ugly did I?" I asked.

"No, but you did grossly misrepresent him," Kayko said.

"Oh, wait, is this the boy with the purple hair who's best friends with your brother?" Botan asked thinking to herself.

"Yes," I said.

"Kairi, he's so handsome!" Botan said.

"What does it matter how cute he is anyway?" I asked.

"I think I have picture of him and Goten on my phone actually," Kayko said scrolling through her pictures. "Yeah! Here you go!"

She handed her phone over to Yukina and Shizuru.

"Oh, my goodness! This is the Capsule Corp. boy!" Shizuru said. "The heir to biggest technology company in the world has a thing for you?"

"I've known him my whole life. His mom and my dad have been best friends since they were my age. We grew up together," I said. "It'd be too weird if we dated. And like I said, I don't even like him."

"Now how come I don't believe you?" Shizuru asked.

"Because crazy runs in the Kuwabara family?" I asked.

"Haha, very funny, Kairi," Kuwabara said.

"Kairi, exactly how many times have you made out with Trunks?" Kayko asked.

I glared at her as everyone started to laugh.

"Come on you guys, is this really the topic of conversation we want to be having right now?" I asked.

"I think so," Kurama replied.

"So you're telling him you _don't_ want to date him, but you're also kissing him? Sounds like somebody is sending mixed signals," Botan said.

"I do not send him mixed signals. I don't do anything at all to lead him on," I said.

"With the exception of calling him every evening just to 'check in' I assume," Hiei said, out of nowhere from the window, sending the whole room into a hysterical fit of laughter.

"I defend you and this is how you pay me back? What did I ever do to you?" I asked. Hiei looked at me knowingly, implying that this was probably just revenge for teasing him about Yukina, or for invading his personal space yesterday. But I didn't like this. I was not going to take this lying down.

"You are going to regret that you ever mentioned that," I said.

"How so?" Hiei asked.

I wouldn't betray his secret about Yukina, but there were other things I'd learned about Hiei since I'd been here that I could easily use.

"Hiei talks in his sleep," I said.

"I do not," Hiei said indignantly.

"Yes you do," I replied.

"How would you even know?" he asked.

"I sleep in the same room as you, and years of being Spirit Detective has made me paranoid, therefore a light sleeper. I heard you," I said as the others laughed.

Hiei was clearly embarrassed was obviously not going to take that lying down.

"Kairi was born with a tail," he said.

The room went silent as humiliation flushed over my face.

". . . How do you know that?" I said sinisterly.

"I have my ways," he said reclining back against his spot in the window.

"Were you really born with a tail?" Kuwabara asked.

". . . Yes," I said. They all started laughing. I looked over to Hiei and glared. He loked just as smug as ever.

"I'm going to kill you," I mouth silently to him.

He shook his head. "No you're not."

"Do you still have it? Do you like keep it in a jar or something weird like that?" Kayko asked.

"No! It's just. . ." I sighed. "I'm like. . . It's difficult, Kayko."

"Go on, Kairi. This can't be any weirder than us sitting around watching a bunch of demon's fight," Shizuru said.

"It's like this okay, I'm like, not exactly one hundred percent human," I said.

"You're like an apparition?" Yukina asked.

"No. . . My dad is, like, an alien or whatever," I said. Shizuru, Kayko, and Yukina all stared at me incredulously. "I'm serious. My dad was born on this planet called Vegeta, which, incidentally, is the same planet Trunks' dad is from and his dad was the prince of the planet. They're Saiyans. And I'm half Saiyan."

". . . What?" Kayko laughed. "You're kidding. You're half alien."

"Yes. My dad got sent to earth when he was a baby and shortly thereafter planet Vegeta was destroyed and only a few Saiyan survived. The only two pureblood Saiyans still living are my dad and Vegeta. All Saiyans are born with tails," I said. "Mine was removed when I was a baby. End of story."

"No it's not," Kurama said.

"Yes. It. Is," I said firmly.

"You're not going to tell them _why_ it got cut off?" Kurama cut it odd.

"Because all of the children would've made fun of me," I said.

"Liar," Kurama said.

"Ugh! Fine. If I had kept my tail every time I looked at the full moon I would turn into a giant monkey and go crazy and destroy everything in my path," I said.

"Are you serious?" Hiei asked.

"Shut up," I said.


	22. Relieving Stress in A Minute or Less

_[A/N: Watch as I continue to rebelliously misspell Shishiwakamaru by making it two names because it's easier to type Shishi when he speaks instead of the whole name.]_

As the night stretched on, things had quieted down. I'd gotten bored with playing cards and joined Hiei in his seat by the window.

"How did you know about my tail?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I already said I have my ways."

I frowned at him. "You haven't been stalking me have you?"

"I have better things to do with my time than stalk you," he said.

"Then how did you know about my tail?" I asked. He smirked. "What?"

"You won't be pleased with my answer," he said.

"So?" I asked. "Tell me."

". . . You have a scar," he said.

"I know I have a scar. How do _you_ know I have a scar?" I asked. Hiei gave me another knowing look. I thought really hard. "After Tuguro was creeping on me in the bathroom, you saw it?" Hiei nodded. "And you made a mental note of it?"

Hiei laughed.

"Don't laugh. It's not funny. I feel incredibly self-conscious talking to you right now knowing that the image of my naked body is permanently engraved in your brain," I said.

"Do I really talk in my sleep?" he asked.

I nodded. "Sure do. You've never really had anything interesting thing to say though. Except, you know, last night. . ."

"What?" he asked.

"Well," I said lowering my voice, even though we were both already speaking quietly, "last night, you kind of just turned over in your sleep and you were like. . ." I had to hold in my laughter.

"What?" he asked.

"You were like 'wheeee'. And then you were silent," I said.

"You're a liar," he said.

"I swear I'm not. I promise I won't tell anyone," I said. "Although. . . It was pretty cute."

"Spare me," Hiei said, obviously offended by the idea of someone calling anything he did or say, voluntarily or otherwise, cute.

"You need to relax. I was only partially joking," I said. Hiei rolled his eyes. "You're just still stressed out from yesterday like the rest of us with Gatasubal, then Ichigaki, Kuwabara almost getting killed, Kurama almost getting killed, Kuwabara almost getting killed. . . again."

"Kuwabara may be an idiot but his resilience is remarkable," Hiei said.

I laughed. "True facts."

He glanced over to the couch where everyone was still playing cards.

"Why is she here?" he asked, referring to Yukina.

"You know why and it would be a non-issue if you just told her-."

"Not an option," Hiei said.

I sighed. "You know, I have two brothers. Goten and Gohan. I love them both like crazy. And they're super overprotective. Kind of annoying too. Gohan, apparently, had some crazy anger issues and Goten is exactly 11 months younger than me."

"Why are you telling me this?" Hiei asked.

"Because, I don't think it's fair that she is missing out on the opportunity to know her brother," I said.

"How could she want something that she only just learned existed?" he asked.

I shrugged. "But think of it this way. I'm glad I know you. And I try to think about what it would've been like if you hadn't stolen the shadow sword and helped us a Maze Castle and if I hadn't tried to stop you from killing those humans when Yukina was kidnapped, which ultimately landed you here with us. . . I can't. It's impossible. Where would I possibly be if I didn't know you?"

"What does it matter?" he asked.

"It's not so much about the fact that she doesn't know her brother, it's more about how much better she'd probably be if she did know him. The potential relationship you're wasting," I said.

Hiei stared at me for a moment before turning to look back out of the window.

"Do you realize that half of the things that come out of your mouth don't make sense?" he asked.

I nodded. "They don't make sense right now, but it will. If she sticks around long enough, you'll miss her when she's gone. You'll try to figure out what you would've done if you hadn't known her."

"And?" he asked.

"You'll be upset when you realize you _are _glad you got to know her. Then you'll be upset that I was right," I replied.

Hiei seemed amused by my comment.

"Between you and your idiot friends, I definitely dislike you the least," he said.

I smiled. "Everyone does, except Kayko, but it's pretty hard to compete with Yusuke where she's concerned seeing as how he gets to make out with her, but I'm pretty sure my making out skills are significantly better than his. I don't know that from experience, but I tend to be better than Yusuke at most things. Except with Spirit Energy. He is kind of a prodigy."

"Hmm. . ." Hiei said.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, I'm just pretty sure you don't hear yourself when you speak," he said. I rolled my eyes. "Don't expect me to give you a compliment ever again with the way your brain loses track of things. I'm surprised you're as skilled a fighter as you are."

"I think that's genetic. My dad can't carry a conversation to save his life, but he's still an incredible fighting machine," I said.

"So stupidity is a Saiyan trait?" Hiei asked.

"No. Vegeta and Trunks are pretty much as intelligent as they get," I said. "Especially, Trunks. He took pre-calculus last year. No ninth grader takes pre-calculus unless you're a freak and he totally is."

"The one that keeps calling you?" Hiei asked.

"We've known each other forever. He worries about me," I said.

"And then some," he said.

"How could you even know that? You've never even met him before," I said.

"I don't have to know someone to know that they're obsessive," Hiei said. "You're being naïve."

"I am not naïve," I said. "I know he likes me."

"Uh, huh. And you?" he asked.

"I think I have already sufficiently explained my feelings, or lack thereof, about Trunks, thank you," I said.

We sat in silence looking out at the rain for a few quiet moments when a thought crossed my mind. I looked over to him, curiously. He looked back at me. I smiled innocently.

"What?" he asked.

"I was just wondering out of general curiosity since we were on the subject-."

"Nope," Hiei cut me off.

"You don't even know what I was going to ask you," I said.

"Yes I do, and I refuse to even let you begin this line of questioning," he said.

"So I have to answer all of your questions about my personal relationships, but you refuse to let me even ask you a question?" I asked.

"Correct," he said.

"That hardly seems fair," I said.

"It's not," he replied.

I laughed. "Just when I thought you were actually developing good interpersonal communication skills."

"Why would I need those?" Hiei asked.

"So you can communicate with people," I said.

"I don't like to communicate with people," he said.

"You communicate with me," I said.

"Yes, but you're you," he said.

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean by that?"

"I don't find you nearly as intolerable as those idiots," Hiei said. "I could even say that I almost enjoy speaking to you, if not for your inability to control the nonsensical and stupid things you frequently spew out."

". . . You know, I'm beginning to feel some misplaced anger here," I said waving my hand in a circle in front of my face as if I could feel it in the air, "and I definitely think you need to relax. You are way too stressed."

"You think so?" he asked.

I nodded. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll feel better after you bust a few skulls open tomorrow at the semi-finals."

"Hmp. You may just be correct in that assumption," Hiei said.

888

We were a little bit concerned when we arrived at the new stadium the next day and Yusuke and Genkai were still nowhere to be found. I could only assume she was putting him through some training to prepare for his fight against Tuguro. Still, this stadium was huge, dark, the crowd was much larger and louder and without our fearless leader and our secret weapon, Genkai, here, it only gave them more reason to heckle us.

"I didn't expect to be fighting this round three against five," Hiei said. Despite our lighthearted conversation yesterday, for whatever reason, Hiei was in a mood this morning.

"whatever they had to speak about, it must've been important," Kurama said.

"I don't know what you're all worried about. I'll just take 'em all on myself," Kuwabara said.

At least he was confident. Hopefully he'd actually win a match today without getting pummeled first.

"Hello, all! Welcome to the semi-finals of the Dark Tournament! We've moved to an even bigger stadium because the old wouldn't be able to handle all the gore we're sure to see this time round! Today we'll be seeing Team Uraotogi facing off against everyone's favorite underdogs, Team Urameshi. As usual, I'm you're lovely hostess Koto, but for reasons that I choose not divulge and that I'm not at all bitter about, I have been removed from the ring, but will still be bringing you my commentary from the sidelines!"

I looked off into the stands, and sure enough she'd been demoted to sitting at a small booth among the audience. I was almost positive that it had something, if not everything to do with how sympathetic she was to us during our fight against Team Masho two days ago.

"Take my place in the ring, let's welcome Juri!"

In the ring was a tall dark skinned apparition with a long, blue, fish like tail, webbed blue ears, and turquoise hair.

"Thanks, guys! It's my first time so go easy on me!" Juri announced.

"That's what she said," I said.

Juri turned and glared at me.

"Not make friends this round are you, Kairi?" Kurama asked.

"Apparently not. You guys must be the only ones who think I'm funny," I said.

"Will both teams please enter the ring, please," Juri said.

"Looks like Team Urameshi is making a habit out of starting off every round missing fighters. Today they're missing their mysterious masked lady and Yusuke Urameshi himself!" Koto said. "Are they so confident about this match that their own captain decided to not show up?"

"I still think they killed each other," Kuwabara said.

"All the more reason for you to take this seriously," I said.

Team Masho joined us in the ring.

"I thought we agreed on a good fight. What's happened to the rest of your team?" Shishi asked.

"They just decided you wouldn't be worth their time," I said. Shishi glared at me. "Work on that attitude, Shishi, my man." I winked at him.

"Now is the time to decide the terms for your matches," Juri said.

"It doesn't matter. Let's just see who lives," Hiei said.

"You're a hasty one, aren't you boy. I take it you're fighting first?" Kuro asked, blowing a bubble with his. His chewing so disgusting, I couldn't stand it.

"Yes. First, last, and only," Hiei said. "I've been under a great deal of stress lately. Killing you should ease some of it.

"I suggest using these," Shishi said reaching into his pocket and pulling out two yellow dice. "On each die there is a member of each of our team written, plus one free space and anyone can fight when it comes up. You must fight as many times as your name appears as long as you're still alive."

"Fine," Hiei agreed quickly, "but whenever it's the name of someone who's not around, I will be fighting in their place."

"Matches will be determined by rolling of dice, multiple turns are allowed, and as always in the semi-finals, five wins advances," Juri announced.

"Fate makes her choice," Shishi said tossing the dice.

The rolled onto the ground—Hiei and Makintaro.

"Your desperate plan has backfired," Hiei said.

"You talk _way_ too big, Little Man," Makintaro said confidently.

"It's the first match up of the semi-finals. Hiei, versus the big man, Makintaro!" Juri announced as Kurama, Kuwabara and I exited the ring. "BEGIN."

The first move happened so quickly that I almost missed it, and was completely sure Makintaro had. Hiei had drawn his sword and quickly removed Makintaro's arm.

"That's very impressive," Kurama said.

"He must be more stressed out than we thought," I said.

"Give me your best shot," Makintaro urged Hiei.

Hiei scoffed. "Your nervous system leaves much to be desired."

"What are you talking about? Just bring it on!" Makintaro said.

"Fool, I already have," Hiei said holding up the arm.

Makintaro started to flip out as he gaped at his amputated limb.

"You're lucky I'm generous," Hiei said tossing the arm to Juri who immediately screamed in disgust and tossed it to the ground. Hiei started toward the edge of the ring.

"Where are you going? I'm not done with you yet!" Makintaro screamed at Hiei was ignoring him. Makintaro regrew his arm this time turning it into a giant axe. He charged Hiei, who seemed off guard. He brought the axe down on Hiei, or at least he appeared to, but Hiei had vanished from his robe to the top of Makintaro's shoulders.

"Your eyes are very slow," Hiei said raising his sword up. "Too bad." He stabbed the sword through Makintaro's head, and just like that in under a minute, we'd won our first match.

"You're right, Kairi," Kurama said. "He is in an unusually bad mood today."


	23. That's What She Said

_[A/N: That awkward moment when school eats all of your free time.]_

"And winner by death, Hiei!" Juri declared.

"Time to chalk up the first win for Hiei who gets points in my book for both skull piercing and amputation," Koto said from the sidelines.

"That means it's time for match number two!" Juri said.

"Go ahead and roll, Shishi. I have a feeling it's going to be me once more," Hiei said.

"Um, can we get a clean up crew out here to handle this body? That's not part of the referee job is it?" Juri said.

"Once again, I loved the brutality, but next time, let's try to drag it out. We mustn't forget our torturing," Koto said.

"Hurry and roll. I'd like to finish warming up," Hiei repeated.

"Careful, fate may have a sense of humor," Shishi said tossing the dice.

They landed on Kuro Momotaro and a free space.

"This might be my lucky day after all," Hiei said. "If we can choose anybody from our team to fight in this match then of course it's going to be me."

"The second match will be Hiei versus Kuro Momotaro!" Juri declared.

"If I were you I wouldn't let that last victory go to your head. Here, let me get him off your sword," Kuro said pulling Hiei's sword from Makintaro's head and then kicking his corpse out of the ring. "He may've been the biggest on our team but he was also the weakest. I think you'll find I'm must just a tad tougher than Makintaro was."

Kuro then raised Hiei's sword to his mouth and licked the entire length of the blade.

I gagged. "Why doesn't he just save himself the trouble of licking that sword and just eat a gigantic bowl of e-coli?"

"I hate to say it, but that's hardly hygienic," Hiei said. "Do you know how many creatures I've slain with that sword?"

"Oh, I'm sure. Let me add one more," Kuro said. He raised Hiei's sword and slashed his arm with it. "Oh, yeah! It hurts so good! That's the stuff, baby! Oh yeah!"

"I am incredibly creeped out by this guy," I said.

"It's sharp," Kuro said dropping Hiei's sword into the ground. "Not that it matters." He reached onto his belt and popped off a little yellow ball with a spade on it. "This steaming sphere will seal your defeat."

He squeezed the yellow sphere and steam erupted from it. He took deep breaths and inhaled it. Suddenly his arm was healed and then his whole body began to change, becoming covered in coarse, dark hair.

"This my beast armor, armor of the ape. What do you think?" he asked picking up Hiei's sword again. "I won't be needing this scrap metal anymore, and neither will you." He launched the sword at Hiei and who caught it, undaunted by Kuro.

"We'll see about that," Hiei said.

"BEGIN!" Juri announced.

Hiei gave his sword a twirl and attacked Kuro. He went to chop off his arm, but the sword hit him and did not budge one bit though his armor. And then Hiei's sword snapped in three.

"What the heck happened to his sword?" Kuwabara asked.

"I think it broke," Kurama said.

"Don't be such a smart ass, Kurama," I said.

Hiei was visibly irritated, but he didn't let that stop him of course.

"I'd rather kill you with my fist anyway," he said.

Hiei ran at Kuro and attacked him, but Kuro dodged and immediately started throwing punches at Hiei who, for the first time I'd ever seen, was actually having some difficulty with this. Then, Kuro came up from atop his head and sent hit to the ground and followed by getting Hiei right in the stomach, sending tumbling through the air, face planting the ring and then into the stadium wall.

"How is this even happening? Hiei is our sure thing!" I said.

"You still there?" Kuro heckled Hiei. "You're probably wondering how I managed to fend off your attacks so easily. It's because my body can do this nifty thing where it remembers the pain of my opponents attack. All I have to do is expose myself to a small dose of my enemies offense, kind of like a flu shot. Once my body knows what it has to look for then it's time for a good ol' steaming sphere."

"What does that do?" Kuwabara asked.

"Think of it as a catalyst for my beast armor which make me invincible to my opponents attacks and much more handsome to boot," Kuro said.

"I definitely disagree with that last part," I sad.

"But more importantly there's no way Hiei can beat someone invincible!" Kuwabara said.

Hiei got to his feet, he had this look in his eyes where you could just tell he was pissed off.

"What are you waiting for? Where's your famous dark Dragon attack?" Kuro asked.

"You want it?" Hiei asked.

"That's what she said," I said.

"Kairi—not now!" Kurama said.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so nervous!" I said.

"As soon as my body memorizes your most powerful attacks I can squash you with the palm of my hand!" Kuro said.

Hiei was in no shape to pull of the dragon again, but he was so pissed off he might've just tried it to spite him.

He reached up and pulled his headband off his jagan eye.

"Who am I to deny a fan request?" Hiei asked. "Just remember you brought this upon yourself."

Hiei was cloaked in that familiar black flame again and I resisted the urge to faceplam myself. Apparently, ego trumped common sense every time in Hiei's case.

"Hey, what's the hold up little man? Are you too weak to use it?" Kuro asked.

"True pain takes time my friend. Just try to keep yourself amused," Hiei said as he continued to up.

"You show him, Hiei! Hiei member's not so strong after all! Obviously he's forgotten what that attack did to the last guy." Kuwabara said.

"Not just him. The flame took its toll on Hiei as well," Kurama said.

"What?" Kuwabara asked.

"To summon the dragon, Hiei must use his own spirit energy as bait to lure the demon from the pits of Spirit World. This technique only works if he can emit a tremendous amount of energy over a long period of time," Kurama said.

"Hiei was in perfect condition when he used the technique against Zeru and even then he didn't use enough energy to control it," I said.

"He nearly took the hook along with the bait," Kurama said.

"He's only operating with about half his energy now. Kai only knows how it'll turn out this time," I said.

"That's only _half_. He's making that much energy with half his normal strength?" Kuwabara asked.

"It doesn't even matter. He doesn't have enough energy to unleash it," I said.

"At his present levels the dragon will devour our friend in his entirety," Kurama said.

"What's the hold up? Where is it?" Kuro asked.

"It's here!" Hiei said. He ran at Kuro, launched himself into the air, prepared to punch Kuro straight on. "Fist of the mortal flame!"

He launched the flame at Kuro, getting him in the stomach and the face.

"That doesn't look like a dragon," Kuwabara said.

"It is a related flame, but of the human world," Kurama explained.

"Hiei seems to have hot Kuro Momotaro with some sort of terrible attack," Juri announced.

Kuro fell to his knees.

"I decided, why waste the flame of the underworld on you when the more mundane one of the humans would suffice," Hiei said.

But then Kuro climbed to his feet, laughing. "I really had you going there for a second, didn't I?"

"It's an unlikely reversal. That fist of the mortal flame would've sent lesser fighters running for their mommies, but not this brick wall," Koto announced.

"And now I've memorized this pain too," Kuro said taking another sphere.

"Kuro's just taken out another one of his steaming spheres! I wonder what that's for! As if he can get any more powerful!" Juri announced.

Kuro breathed in the steam from this sphere and his skin turned blue and feathery. He grew large yellow wing.

"Your little fist technique is completely useless on me now that I'm protected by the second armor—the armor of the phoenix!" Kuro said.

"This competitor just can't seem to stay in the same body for more than a few minutes," Juri said.

"He's transformed into some kind bird. This sequel to his beast armor is even bigger and badder than the first one, but I think the burning question is was there anything wrong with his original, fairly hot, muscular body?" Koto added.

"What a rip off. This guy is too chicken to stick around and fight in his own skin for a while," Kuwabara said.

"Nicely put," Kurama said.

"Colorful get up you've got there, but it doesn't look so tough," Hiei said.

"Wanna see what it can do?" Kuro said. He stretched out his arms and jumped into the air and came back down hitting Hiei in the face, sending him fly, then hitting him again for the other side. Hiei landed on the other side of the ring and Kuro went in for another hit, but Hiei dodged.

Kuro then, like many before him, chased Hiei around the ring, when he thought he had him he stopped suddenly and realized Hiei wasn't there.

"You left yourself open," Hiei said coming up from the ground. "How about double fists of the mortal flame?"

Hiei went in and laid in Kuro, pounding him until he was raw in the chest.

But, Kuro was unfazed and then came back and proceeded to repeatedly kick the shit out of Hiei every which way around the ring.

"This is almost painful to watch," Kurama said.

"I never thought in a million years we'd be watching Hiei get his ass kicked," I said.

Just as I said it, I had to watch Hiei slide across the ring on his face, his dignity waning with every inch he slid.

"Don't you get it yet? There's no way you can defeat me!" Kuro said. "You might as well stay down and figure out a way to beg."

Hiei got to his feet.

"Never. You'll have to rip my limbs off to keep me down," Hiei said.

"You shouldn't give him anymore suggestions, Hiei," Kurama said.

"Yeah. That's a good point," Kuwabara said.

"It seems Hiei is simply unable to compete with the new and improved power of Kuro. Amputation seems to be guaranteed!" Koto announced.

"Too bad you can't call on that little dragon. I'd show the world that I could beat you even with a level playing field," Kuro said. "But then again, it might just be fun to go all the way."

"That's what she said," I said.

"Kairi, I swear to the Kais if you make another 'that's what she said joke' while we're here today and I will smack you in the mouth!" Kurama pleaded with me.

"I'm sorry! I don't know what to do with all of this nervous energy!" I said.

Kuro pulled out his steaming sphere and crushed it in his hand."Prepare yourself for the next Kuro Momotaro!"

Kro began to change. He traded in his feathers for fur, grew a long snout, and long white hair.

"Now I'm protected with the third beast armor, the armor of the wolf," Kuro said. "I'm a helluva a lot stronger than I was before and I've got a few nice sharp little toys on my hands to show you."

He held his hands to reveal his sharp claws and then ran at Hiei. He swung barely slicing Hiei's shirt.

"I promise I won't miss your flesh again," Kuro said. "I just needed a second to get used to this body."

"I've never known Hiei to back away from a challenger," Kurama said.

"Well it does have a lot of teeth," Kuwabara said.

Hiei backed away and slid his foot into the broken hilt of his sword. He glanced down at it, thinking and then back at Kuro.

"Does that mean the great Hiei is ready to back down?" Kuro asked.

Hiei kicked his broken sword into the air and grabbed hold of it.

"No, you incompetent, but I will give you one last chance to," Hiei said.

Kuro laughed. "That's very sporting of you but I think I'll pass. Your memory doesn't work like mine, so I'll give you a hint, if your sword didn't work on my first beast armor, it certainly won't work on the third."

"I know. I hate to use this attack, I find it devoid of any taste or artistry," Hiei said.

"That's hard to believe—there's actually an attack that's too barbaric for Hiei," Kuwabara said.

"And it's probably going to be very messy," Kurama said.

"That's-." Wham! Kurama had, as promised, smacked me right in the mouth. "Ow."

"I warned you. You knew better," Kurama said.

"Don't hold back on me because you think something's offensive. I was planning on a vulgar move myself," Kuro said.

He ran at Hiei. Hiei quickly took his sword and seemed to slice Kuro into piece just as he bit down onto his shoulder. Blood sprayed everywhere and suddenly I got a pounding headache brought on by the fact that I had no idea what was going on.

"Did I just miss something, Kurama?" I asked.

"I'm not sure yet," he replied.

I heard Hiei's familiar chuckle. Then from Hiei's back shot out what looked like dark energy similar to that of the Dragon of the Darkness Flame's. Hiei turned and sliced Kuro in half.

"The fuck just happened?" I asked.

"Oh, I see now. Hiei did summon the dragon from the pits of the Spirit World," Kurama said.

"I thought you said that would be impossible because he'd be swallowed," Kuwabara said.

"That's why he didn't use his arm. He poured his energy into his sword to lure the darkness flame. Containing it apart from his body, it wasn't as strong, but it was powerful enough to pierce Kuro's armor. Kuro was dead before his teeth even sank in," Kurama said.

"Hiei is a motherfucking genius," I said.

"I don't know about all this genius business. It's not that much different from what I do with my spirit sword and nobody calls that genius," Kuwabara said. Then he had a thought. "Hey, wait a second! Were you saying back there that my spirit sword didn't have any taste or artistry?"

"Of course I did," Hiei said discarding his broken sword.

"Since all pieces of Kuro have stayed down for more than 10 seconds, Hiei is the winner!" Juri announced.


	24. Yoko Kurama? And Kuwabara Strikes Again

"Time to roll, Shishi. I have an urge for three in a row," Hiei said.

I cleared my throat, resisting the urge to exclaim "that's what she said" knowing Kurama would just hit me again.

In the ring Shishi was tossing the dice up and down in this hand and finally tossed them to them ground. It landed on Kurama and Ura Urishima.

Kurama climbed into the ring as did Ura in his grass skirt, blue shirt, book bag and fishing pole.

"By the authority of the tournament committee, let the third match begin!" Juri announced.

Ura pulled out his fishing line and twirled it above his head. Undaunted, Kurama pulled out his rose whip and spun it in the same fashion. Ura lashed his whip at Kurama, who blocked it. Then it became a battle of back and forth with whips.

"Now, this is a fight," Kuwabara said.

"Kurama needs to stop screwing around and start fighting for real," Hiei said.

"But Kurama's whip swinging like a maniac," Kuwabara said.

"Have you learned anything?" Hiei asked. "It's Kurama's annoying habit. He never formulates his own strategy until he understands his opponents."

"Be that as it may, Kurama's tactics tend to fall under the 'if I die, I'm taking all you bitches with me' side as we've learned," I said. "Even if this is boring to watch, I'm just going to let him keep on doing what he's doing."

My attention turned back to the ring as Ura seemed to stumble. Kurama went in for the kill, but Ura vanished behind him, came up with his fishing line, wrapped it around Kurama and pulled tightly slicing him all over.

"Mother fuck," I said.

Kurama fell over on to the ground, Ura laughed.

"I studied your fighting and found your only weakness in battle was your kindness," Ura said. "In that regard I suggest you change the way you live your life! But it's too late now. How did you put with this goody-two-shoes crap? I had to choke back some major chunks while I was pretending to be an upstanding citizen, but boy does it feel good to be bad again?"

Kurama got to his feet, looking incredibly pissed that Ura had somehow gotten one over on him.

"You're gonna die, just like grandma!" Ura said hurling his whip at Kurama. Kurama took off across the ring and got to the edge and found that there was a large web like force field around the ring. "You didn't think I was really trying to hit you with those attacks did you? Give me some credit. And just know that my force field won't be shredded as easily as that enchantress Ruka's was. It's impossible to break from the inside. So get comfortable and let me introduce you to the Idunn Box."

He went into his little back pack and pulled out a small wooden box.

"Anybody other than the possessor who breathes in its air will quickly return to their younger age. Back to their awkward adolescent year, terrible twos, or even infancy! Once infected, you'll be so tiny and inexperienced fighting you will be like taking candy from a. . . Well, you'll see what I mean soon enough."

Ura opened the box and the ring filled with fog.

"Why isn't that stuff coming any closer? Is it scared?" Kuwabara asked.

"Maybe you don't understand the concept of force field," Hiei said.

Kuwabara's idiocy was the least of problems though. I could feel Kurama's energy growing weaker, as I assume it went with his age until I could feel it no more.

But then something strange happened. The energy in the ring grew massively, it was still Kurama's but it was different somehow.

"Where'd all this weird energy come from?" Kuwabara asked.

"It's all Kurama. Down to the last drop," Hiei said.

"But it's different somehow, and a heck of a lot more powerful," Kuwabara said.

"It seems that idiot he's been fight has turned him back into his demon form back before he was tainted by you humans," Hiei said.

"If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all, Hiei," I said. "Let me explain the history of Kurama to you, Kuwabara. 15 years ago, the spirit fox, Yoko Kurama escaped from Spirit World while fleeing from a botched burglary. According to Spirit World, Yoko Kurama was caught and killed, but evidently that wasn't the case. It seems that in an act of desperation, he hid himself in the Living World and used a human body to slowly recover his energy. Even I didn't know about any of this until just after Yusuke's first mission after he became my partner."

"You didn't know because Kurama didn't want anyone to know. He thought no one would find him. But I did," Hiei said.

"Yeah, I guess you have that luxury when you've got a fake, all seeing eye," I said. Hiei glared at me. "I'm aware of how insensitive it was for me to say that, but quite frankly, I was getting tired of all the cracks you were making about humans."

"Shut up," Hiei said. "Let's just see what the pure power of Kurama is capable of."

"I can just barely make out two fighters in the ring which I can only assumed are the combatants. But the voice I just picked up with my ears didn't really sound like either of them. Could this be a third fighter? And with Juri still MIA there's no way of telling what's going on," Koto announced.

"No wait, I'm here!" a child's voice called out from the ring. "Is it snack time yet?"

"Okay, this is ridiculous. In addition to a third fighter, I've just picked up the voice of a small child," Koto said.

I could feel something growing in the ring and a moment later I could hear Ura Urishima screaming frantically for someone to help him.

Suddenly all of the smoke was clearing from the inside of the ring.

"Hold the microphone people, I've just seen my personal fantasy—sexy ears, a dreamy tail. Who is this love god?" Koto swooned from her booth. She was right. Instead of my red headed cousin, a tall, white hair demon wearing toga like apparel stood in his place. "Shishi Wakamaru's sword is in the ring too. Neither of the original combatants are even in the ring. How in the world do we call this thing?"

"Kurama really is a fox thing! And to think I let him near my kitten," Kuwabara said.

But then, Kurama suddenly transformed back to normal, and Juri went back to being normal from child sized as well.

"Aw, my silver-haired hottie has transformed back into a, sadly, tailless, Kurama. My whole weekend is shot," Koto said.

"Tails are annoying anyway," I said.

"Yeah, I bet it rough turning into a giant ape every full moon," Hiei said.

"I will fuck you up if you don't shut your mouth," I said.

"Kurama is the winner," Juri declared.

"It's official and on the board. Team Urameshi keeps the lead over Team Uraotogi, three to zero," Koto declared.

Shishi jumped into the ring and pulled his sword from the beast that was apparently Ura Urishima.

"These primitives are so unreliable, although to be fair, we did neglect to tell him about the effect the Idunn Box may have on someone in your particular condition," Shishi said. "Now, let's keep going."

Shishi took the dice and rolled them. It landed on him and a free space for us.

"Now which of your teammates do I get to beat today?" Shishi asked.

And then the fangirls went wild.

"Where did all of these hoes come from?" I asked. "I was sure we were the only ones who brought chicks along."

"Why doesn't anyone ever cheer for me? A real man is attractive because he's tough, not because of charming good looks," Kuwabara said. "Right, Kairi?"

I laughed. "I plead the fifth."

"What did that mean again?" Kuwabara asked.

"It means she refuses to answer the question on the grounds that in doing so she would incriminate herself," Kurama said.

"Wait—do you mean girls like you would never go for tough guys like me?" Kuwabara asked.

"No, Kuwabara. I didn't say that at all. I only meant that you shouldn't let go of Yukina because you don't get lucky twice," I said.

"Hey you, with the inferior face," Shishi said.

". . . You mean me?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yes, you. I'm certain you're tired of standing on the sidelines as a side show attraction," Shishi said.

Kuwabara raced up toward the ring, eager to get Shishi back for his insult, but he failed in his attempt to climb into the ring.

"Let me handle this. Shishi Wakamaru appears to be their strongest fighter," Hiei said.

"No, I'll take him. Onji could be unpredictable. Recover your powers for the final match," Kurama said.

"You know all you're deciding is the order of your defeat," Shishi said.

"Kurama, it's obvious you only want to fight him so you can discover the secrets of Ura's Idunn Box. We can't afford to have any priorities rank above victory right now," Hiei said. "Let me fight."

"Why are you even talking about it? This Shishi Wakamaru punk just insulted me. He's all mine," Kuwabara said.

"I'll take him" Hiei said.

"No, he's mine," Kurama said.

"Hey! I'm fighting him!" Kuwabara said.

It was time to end this before they ended up killing each other before the round even got started.

"I made out with Yusuke this one time," I said.

"What?" the three of them asked in unison.

"Are you serious?" Kuwabara asked.

"Hell no, but now that I have your attention, I think it's time we decided the next fight through the only means that will be fair," I said. "Rock-Paper-Scissors."

"Oh, yeah. Bring it on. I'm a rock-paper-scissors master," Kuwabara said holding his fist out in excitement.

"What the hell is that?" Hiei asked.

"Gee, man. You really didn't have a childhood, did you?" Kuwabara asked.

"I pursue strength!" Hiei yelled. "I do not have time for your trivial-."

"It's a human game," Kurama stepped in. "Rock beats scissors. Scissors beats paper. Paper beats rock."

"How the hell does paper beat a rock?" Hiei asked.

"Because your mom, that's how," I said.

"All the same, it's pitifully simple," Hiei said.

"So you ready to get beat?" Kuwabara asked.

"Let's do it," Hiei said.

"Oh, never even played before and he's already cocky. First timers can only use rock by the way," Kuwabara said.

"Don't listen to him," Kurama said. "He's pulling your leg."

"On the count of three, fellas," I said. "One, two, three!"

Hiei and Kurama threw out rock, while Kuwabara chose paper.

"Oh yeah! I always win at this game," Kuwabara said.

"Hold on—you threw out your sign a fraction of a second after we did," Hiei said.

"Come on! It went by way too fast. How do we know you didn't make it up?" Kuwabara asked.

"Trust me. I can see," Hiei said.

"Yeah, yeah, fancy eye. Just do it over," I said.

And then with two scissors and a rock, Kuwabara was the champion.

"I've won every single game of rock-paper-scissors I've ever played, and now I'll win against you," Kuwabara declared.

"Just get yourself in the ring," Shishi said.

The girls went wild again.

"Yeah, cheer all you want ladies. I don't need you," Kuwabara said. "I've already ready for the best fan in the world and as long as she's watching, I'm invincible."

The girls continued to cheer and shout.

"So, Shishi, the fangirls really seem to love you," Kuwabara said.

_"No one wants to kiss you!"_

"That's not true! I've got a girl who wants to kiss me all day long and she's a lot cooler than you!" Kuwabara shouted at the hecklers.

"Let's get started, my defective friend. I've got fame to achieve," Shishi said, pulling his thin white, cloak from around his shoulders.

"Defective—that was _not_ nice," I said.

"Says the girl who called him ugly not five minutes ago," Hiei said.

"Oh, you've said worse. And I didn't say he was ugly. He's just. . . One of those people who has to try harder," I said.

Kuwabara, in a frenzy, pulled out his Spirit Sword. He ran at Shishi who vanished and popped up behind him. He did repeated this several times and eventually just started dodging Kuwabara's swings all together.

"Shishi can read his every maneuver," Kurama said.

"That seems to be the pattern with Kuwabara," I said.

Shishi jumped into the air, stepped on Kuwabara's head and jumped to the other side of the ring. Kuwabara, thoroughly infuriated, lunged at Shishi who seemed to be getting bored with him.

Shish leapt over him again and this time dropped his cloak. It swirled around Kuwabara.

"Hey! What's going on! I'm not ugly okay!" Kuwabara shouted, sounding farther and farther away.

Shishi pulled the cloak back and Kuwabara was gone.

"Nice last words," Hiei said.

"I can't sense his energy anymore. It's as if he ceased to exist," Kurama said.

"Oh. My. Kai. Please tell me this didn't just happen," I said.

"He's lost," Shishi said. "Clearly he isn't in the ring. As to where he is, I couldn't say, nor do I care. You'll have to ask the cape of no return for such trivial details. Somewhere in this world or maybe the next or maybe another dimension. I just know he's uncomfortable."

"Juri we're waiting for a decision," Koto said.

"Right. Well, Kuwabara isn't in the ring and hasn't been for more than ten counts. I say Shishi Wakamaru wins!" Juri declared.

The fangirls went wild.


	25. Genkai, Like A Boss

"Seriously—did this just happen?" I asked.

"Look on the Brightside, Detective. With imbecile out of the way you're free to take his place in the tournament," Shishi said.

"Bitch please—you may've poofed him away with your evil curtain of trickery, but there's one thing you've forgotten about our Kuwabara," I said.

"And that would be what?" Shishi asked.

"He's so much of an idiot that instead of walking into every fight and getting killed, it actually comes back around full circle and like, rebounds so he can't be killed," I said.

"Unfortunately," Hiei said.

"Shut up," I hissed at him. Then I turned back to Shishi. "Just you wait, Kuwabara's gonna walk back in through those doors any second and-."

"And then I can send him away, again," Shishi said.

I frowned at him. "You fell out of the dick tree and hit every dick branch on the way down didn't you?"

Shishi laughed. "I might actually grow to be fond of you, Detective, if you weren't on a team with a bunch of imbeciles. It's a shame you're wasting such talent and beauty with them and on Spirit World."

"I would never, ever do anything that involved me being involved with you, ever," I said.

"Think you're too good for me?" he asked.

"Yes," I said simply. "That and I hate you."

"What a shame," Shishi said. "I love every bone in your body, especially mine."

My jaw dropped."Did he just. . ?"

"I think so," Kurama said.

"Roll the dice, Shishi, so one on my boys can kick your ass," I said. "And by the way, I would never fuck you. Ever."

"It sounds to me like you might be the slightest bit offended, Detective," Hiei said.

"Obviously! I swear to Kai, which ever one of takes him on next, had better defend my honor," I said.

"You have my word," Kurama said, pacifying me.

Shishi, still laughing, rolled the dice.

"Team Uraotogi receives a free space and for Team Urameshi it's the Masked Fighter," Juri announced.

"I'll be happy to go again," Shishi said. "What about you?"

"I said from the start I'd be fighting for any members that weren't here. I just didn't know it would be this much fun. Assuming you don't mind, Kurama," Hiei said.

He went to step toward the ring and someone grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait."

I turned around, startled to see Genkai standing there. Her power had drained significantly. I could only assumed that whatever training she had been doing with Yusuke was complete.

"Just who the hell are you?" Hiei asked. "I hope you don't expect me to believe you're the same masked fighter who was on our team before you imposter. She had tremendous power. You're a weakling."

"Yusuke has it now," she said walking past the boys and jumping into the ring.

"Don't worry guys. I promise this is the same person," I said. "She's not as strong now, but we can definitely still count on her. I'd trust her with my life."

"Just who is this masked fighter?" Kurama asked.

"I'm sure you'll learn that soon enough," I said.

"What a pity. I was expecting a fight. I can feel your fragility from here," Shishi said. "Still, I don't know who you are." He pulled out his sword. "What do you say we remove that little mask?"

Then I had a thought, if Shishi did take of Genkai's mask she wasn't going to look like the gorgeous pink haired young woman she had before since she'd given all her energy to Yusuke. This could potentially be a problem.

"Why do you look so anxious?" Hiei asked.

"Because," I said, clearing my throat, "if Shishi gets that mask off it could be problematic."

"Why?" Kurama asked. "It _is_ the same fighter isn't it?"

"Yes it, but that's not going to be outwardly apparent," I said.

"What do you mean by that?" Hiei asked.

"That's complicated to explain," I said.

"It's match five everyone, Shishi Wakamaru versus the masked fighter! And begin!" Juri announced.

Shishi took off toward Genkai swinging his sword. Shishi was fast, but Genkai managed to evade him for the most part, but she was probably feeling older now, so she was just barely able to manage.

"You seem to have lost a great deal of energy, but more importantly, the intrigue of your identity is stealing my spotlight!" Shishi proclaimed. Then SWOOSH! He sliced the mask into bits.

Genkai landed in the ring, her true identity finally revealed.

"But, Kairi!" Kurama started, recognizing her at last. "That's-!"

"Yes," I said.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Kurama asked.

"She had her reasons for keeping her identity a secret. I don't know what they are, but we have a more pressing issue to deal with now," I said.

"What are you two going on about?" Hiei asked. "That is clearly not the same person as before."

"But, Hiei, it is," I said.

"What?" Hiei asked.

"Hopefully I don't need to tell you that that's a different person. Obviously, they're using the mask to sneak additional players into their rotation," Shishi said.

"Um, and that's against the rules isn't it?" Juri asked.

"Even if this woman is the one substitute they're allowed, she cannot enter the ring unless the one she replaces is already dead," Shishi said.

"That is what the book says," Juri agreed.

"I demand to see proof of their teammate's death and if they cannot provide it then I must ask for their disqualification," Shishi said, smirking.

"This is unexpected. The legality of Team Urameshi has been called into question and the bloodbath has stopped in the hopes of a group lynching of some sort," Koto said. "I've just gotten word that the tournament committee is reviewing the situation and will have decision shortly."

This was bad. Very, very, extremely bad. Obviously I knew it was the same fighter, but even if I shouted that at the top of my lungs no one was going to listen to what I had to say being that everyone in the stadium hated me. If ever there was time for a miracle, a time for us to cash in all of our karma points from the last round, it was right now.

"All right, I've received the final word from the committee," Koto announced.

"This is bad," I said.

"If we get disqualified," Hiei started.

"Don't be such a Negative Nancy," I said.

"I'll just go ahead and read here," Koto started, "By the authority of the tournament committee a unanimous decision on the Masked Fighter's eligibility and Team Urameshi's future is ruled. . . No problem! The fight between Shishi Wakamaru and the Masked fighter will continue!"

I let out a sigh of relief. Thank you, universe.

"WHAT? Are you serious?" Shishi shouted. The stadium was in an uproar. For once the committee was on our side. The audience immediately started pelting things at Koto suspecting that she was just taking up for us again.

"Where do you people get these things to throw at me?" she asked.

And then I saw him.

He descended the stairs walked up to Koto's booth and took the microphone.

"What the hell is he doing here?" I asked.

"That isn't very polite," Tuguro spoke. The stadium quickly fell into silence. "Team Urameshi did not cheat. I wanted you all to know that. To understand why, you merely have to know who that woman is. While employing the technique she's so fond of, the body of the user does a most impressive thing. Its cells return to the moment they were the strongest. The young woman you saw before and the old woman you see now are the same person. The human psychic who created the Spirit Wave."

Odd. Very odd indeed. It was possible that Tuguro knew this was Genkai. I'd give him that, but to know all about her technique? That wasn't likely at all unless. . .

"It's been such a long time since we've talked, Genkai," Tuguro said.

The crowd rolled into murmurs, shocked that Genkai would hide her identity being the legend that she was, but I knew why. I understood perfectly well why she hid her face now.

Because she knew Tuguro. And it wasn't as if she just knew him in passing, he knew her well enough to know how her technique worked.

The pieces were falling into place. Suddenly, the Tuguro brothers kidnapping Yukina, Genkai being the fifth fighter on our team, Tuguro requesting that I be alternate and yet promising that I was going to fight—this was no coincidence. Tuguro hadn't been intending to kill Yusuke or Kuwabara or Hiei or Kurama.

His plan was to kill Genkai.

The new question was why.

"So you're the renown psychic Genkai. Looks like I won't have to wait for Tuguro to get my celebrity after all!" Shishi exclaimed. "You seem like just an old woman, but nearly every apparition here knows who you are and now I shall be the one that kills you. It's time to stop dawdling around."

He took his sword by the hilt and pulled it sharply. It snapped open to reveal a long, pink, and rather grotesque looking face.

"That weapon," Kurama started.

"The Banshee Shriek. It think it's such a lovely name for a sword," Shishi said. "It has the power to beckon lost demon's soul into the ring here with us. It should be the perfect way for me to gain my reputation."

"I've seen a sword like that before and I don't think he understand the danger of it. That weapon has more power than he does," Kurama said.

"That doesn't sound promising," I said.

Shishi took the Banshee Shriek above his head and twirled it, faster and faster and then a high pitched wailing erupted from the sword.

"I can't begin to describe the sound that's coming from Shishi's sword. It's like my ears are bleeding, and it's draining the life right out of the audience causing them all to collapse. This kind of violence just isn't fun because it's happening to me," Koto complained.

"Did you know the shrill call of the reaper steals the lives of those too weak to resist it's siren call?" Shishi asked. "I think it sounds more like a choir of singing cherubs. But what matters is how it sounds to you, right Genkai?"

Shishi had grown horns again and moved the sword behind him, stopped spinning it and then leapt at Genkai, while Juri went screaming out of the ring.

"And, now I summon from the depths of Spirit World, the chorus of a thousand skulls!" Shishi slammed it down right over top of Genkai as ghost like skulls went flying all around the ring. The skulls started biting off the heads of the people in the stands.

"Demons souls stripped of their bodies. It's said that their fury will destroy any living soul it touches. I suggest using an energy barrier," Kurama said.

When the souls finally stopped flying, Shishi stood in the ring, back to his old self, standing smugly with his sword at his side.

"Now that you've witnessed the most awesome display f power ever released the Dark Tournament there should be no question about who the best showman is. Such impact on the audience, they will never forget the great Shishi Wakamaru," Shishi said.

"That's weird. I think he missed you kill Zeru in round one," I said.

"Hn. True," Hiei agreed confidently.

"In killing Genkai I have inherited her tasted, thus bolstering my status as a living legend," Shishi went on. "I waited a long time for this. I only wish Genkai had been stronger so I could show my full power."

"Why doesn't he just stop talking? It's really unattractive when he opens his mouth," I said.

"That giant crater is right where I was standing! That means it's could've been me who was blown apart!" Juri realized from outside the ring.

"I know how you feel little girl. That could've been me too," Genkai said from the other side of the ring.

Shishi turned and glared at her.

"Still think she's weak?" I asked.

"I'm surprised the sound of my sword alone didn't kill you, you withered old hag," Shishi said.

"Yeah, silly me. I must've forgotten to turn my hearing aid on," Genkai said. "You know how it is. With a washed up old lady like me, the memory is the first thing to go."

"Shut up! I won't be humiliated on my own stage! Don't think for a moment you can continue running from my chorus of a thousand skulls! Either you luck or you knees are bound to give out in time!" Shishi proclaimed.

The announcement that he was about to use his attack again, the crowd went berserk.

"Wow! The fans are leaving in droves! Trying to get out of the way of Shishi's next attack! I've gotta admit I'm a little afraid of what's happening next, but I'm going to stay because we announcers have got to be held to a higher standard, wouldn't you agree, Juri?" Koto said. "Juri where are you?"

Juri was nowhere to be found. I didn't blame her.

Shishi summoned up his demons again, holding it out in front of him, then stabbed the sword into the ground.

"Surround us with the cage of hell!" Shish I proclaimed. Around them a maroon cage with yellow bars sprung up around them.

"He's taken the disenfranchised voices of those souls and materialized them into an enclosure," Kurama said.

"Spooky," I said.

Shishi grew his horns again and went in to strike Genkai with his sword. He swung it down upon her, but Genkai, the spectacular woman that she was, caught the sword within her hands. Her energy exploded and before our very eyes she transformed back into her young, pink haired version.

"Spirit reflection blast!" she proclaimed, before taking an incredible blast energy, destroying the cage and sending Shishi flying across the ring.

"Damn, I'm glad to share her genetics," I said.

"I second that," Kurama said

"How?" Shishi asked.

"I can't afford to waste my own energy so I borrowed some of yours. I hope you can understand, I am a very busy old lady," Genkai said.

"How could you do such a second rate thing to me you second rate thief? The energy in that attack was mine and it was destined to. . . To. . . To earn my greatness! Don't you realize what I was supposed to become?" Shishi whined. "It'll take more than parlor tricks to keep a champion like me down!"

Shishi got back to his feet, his horns showing again, a crazed look in his eye.

"Chorus of a thousand skulls!" Shishi summoned again.

Genkai, now loaded up on Shishi's energy easily deflected the skulls with a barrier.

"Apparently Shishi had a lot more energy than we gave him credit for," Hiei said.

"Had is right. Little good it's doing him now that Genkai's claimed it," Kurama said.

Shishi, was infuriated and ran at Genkai prepared to attack again, but she stopped him with yet another Spirit Reflection Blast. She snapped the hilt of the Banshee Shriek in half and the blade fell into several pieces. Shishi landed on the ground.

"Thief. You really don't fight for justice," Shishi said.

"No. I fight to get what I want and I always have. It just so happens that a great deal of them turned out to be demons," Genkai said.

"I may've fallen in love with you. If things had turned out differently and you still looked like that all of the time. We could've been together," Shishi said. And then he passed out.

"Looks like you're not his favorite anymore," Hiei said.

"Thank Kai," I said.

"Woohoo! Way to go! Girl power!" Juri cheered. "What's it like being a young gal in a mostly male. . ." Juri stopped mid-sentence noticing that Genkai had returned to normal. "Oh. . . Good job! The winner of the match is Genkai! That victory gives Team Urameshi a strong four to one lead in this semi-final round. One more win and they advance! And there's only one more member of Team Uraotogi still standing to stop them."

"And he's barely standing," Hiei said.

Onji was an old guy, but after the display Genkai put on I knew it would be ridiculous to think that he was out of the running completely.


	26. Send in the Clowns

_[A/N: I know you're all eager to see some Dragon Ball Z characters and I promise your wish will be granted in a few chapters. Promise.]_

Onji held our team's die in his hand and rolled it.

"The die calls for Kuwabara to step into the ring now, but the fellow is stranded in another dimension," Juri said. "Let's roll again!"

"Not so fast referee!"

I face palmed myself.

"You've come back to us!" Juri said.

Kuwabara was standing over at Koto's booth, with her microphone in hand.

"That's right! I never get lost anywhere for long!" Kuwabara proclaimed. "Ladies and gentlemen and other stuff, Kuwabara returns!" The crowd was silent. "Well this is a tough crowd. I've seen funeral parlors more happening."

"Someone please take the microphone from him," I said rubbing the bridge of my nose.

"As acting captain, it's my job to end this with dignity," Kuwabara said somberly. "So let's get ready to rock and roll!"

"I can feel myself dying of humiliation. My soul is aching," I said.

Kuwabara finally left the stands and got into the ring.

"Bring it, Onji, if you still got it," Kuwabara said confidently.

"And by the unquestionable authority of randomly rolled dice, Kuwabara and Onji will fight starting right now!" Juri declared.

Kuwabara started off the fight by throwing punches at Onji who was incredibly agile for a man of his age.

"I was gonna give you a senior discount, but now it's Spirit Sword time," Kuwabara said, pulling out his trusty sword.

"A weapon like that must use up a lot energy. Don't burn yourself out to quickly," Onji warned. Kuwabara swung on him but, Onji was faster than him, like most people. "It might help if you aimed for me." Kuwabara kept at it, but Onji was teleporting every which way around the ring, tiring Kuwabara out.

"Why don't you stand in one place and fight like a man!" Kuwabara proclaimed, obviously realizing that he was never going to be quick enough to catch Onji.

"Oh, all right you cry baby," Onji said. "I'll stand right here and promise not to budge."

"Liar!" Kuwabara shouted.

"My body's not so spritely these days. I could use a rest," Onji said.

"Fine! Stay put exactly where you are old man and I'll help you rest in pieces!" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"Don't do it, Kuwabara," Kurama said as Kuwabara ran off into the obvious trap. Sadly, he did not listen

Onji took his hands for a large black sphere in front of him.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" Kuwabara asked.

"Oh, please don't do it, Kuwabara. Please, _please_ just this one time don't be ass retarded," I said.

But, much to my chagrin Kuwabara charged right into the sphere and was trapped. I face palmed myself.

"I can't believe he walked into that trap all on his own," Kurama said.

"He is a first class fool," Hiei said.

"Agreed. A fool and a moron," Genkai said.

"The stupid is hurting me physically," I said.

"What an exciting turn! Onji's trap Kuwabara inside of a giant ball and he can't break free! Who knows what's planned for this boy in a bubble," Koto said.

"Don't worry this is going to feel something like Shishi Wakamaru's cape of no return," Onji said. "You do remember what that was like don't you? After all it wasn't very long ago and it's tough to forget being transported through a different dimension. Shishi required the piece of cloth I gave him to perform this technique, but since I invented it, I don't need any props."

The sphere lifted high into the air.

"The other four members of Team Uraotogi were merely fillers so I could enter the tournament, but they would have never amounted to anything without me and my gifts. The steaming spheres, the Idunn Box, the Banshee Shriek, all especially tailored by little ol' me," Onji admitted with a laugh.

The bubble spun rapidly and then with a flash of light, Kuwabara was gone for the second time that day. Even Juri sighed before she made her announcement.

"I know where this one's going! Kuwabara's out of the ring and won't be back in 10! The winner is Onji!" she declared.

"So, we've lost two matches with the same fighter and the same technique. There's a lesson here somewhere, but I can't find it," I said.

"The lesson is that Kuwabara is a fool, and nothing more," Hiei said.

I sighed. "I'm afraid you're right."

"Now let's have a roll to see who I'll be facing off against this time," Onji said. "I've got a feeling that it'll be you," he motioned to Kurama. "I know you're curious about the Idunn box's powers, but I can make you take and form I want, so sorry, but you'll have to fight me in your human form."

"Presumptive, considering you haven't yet rolled," Kurama said.

Onji rolled the die and it landed on Genkai. She entered the ring.

"So, it's the unmasked warriors turn to meet her doom. Isn't this a riot. Battle of the elderly," Onji said.

"Why don't you drop your tired act and lose the disguise? You won't be fooling anyone else with that crappy mask," Genkai said.

"Disguise?" Kurama asked.

"I don't know who you are but you're no old man," Genkai said. "And in case you haven't noticed, I'm not the kind of person who will underestimate you based on your false age."

"You've got a pretty sharp eye there for such an ugly, worn past its prime body. You're the first to notice. I even masked my own energy. You see, disguise is one of my favorite hobbies," Onji said peeling away at his face. "To be perfectly honest there are few things I find more repulsive than old people—that mothball smell that hovers around them makes me absolutely retch. That's why I chose this get up. I thought wearing the skin of something I abhorred would help fuel my rage. Now. . ."

Onji went into some chant and the poof! There was a large puff of pink smoke. His voice grew deeper and younger and when the smoke cleared, there was a tall clown standing in Onji's place. His suit was pink. Half of his white painted face was covered in a silver mask. He had tall blond hair, blue lips, a star painted around his left eye and even a red nose.

I gawked at him. What the fuck was going on? Even Hiei and Kurama were speechless. No snarky comments, no teasing, just complete and utter bewilderment. There were no words. Absolutely none.

"Yes! Behold! A few more minutes smothered beneath that mask and I might've gotten real wrinkles. "You see I plan to die before showing any signs of aging, This is my fate. It's the price we pay for our art. My image is my greatest masterpiece and so I live on as a legend eternitas! I must rely on all of you who witness my awe recount throughout the generations and keep me alive! So never forget, ladies and gentlemen, what you are about to see from me, the master of a thousand faces and a thousand tricks, the Beautiful Suzuka."

Then he started laughing.

"Of course, I'd hate to ruin a piece of art, Suzuka, but I have no hold up with you. You're a piece of trash," Genkai said.

"You must never refer to me by my proper name without first adding 'Beautiful' to the front of it or you won't live to repeat your mistake!" Suzuka said. "Beautiful is a word made just for me and we two shall never part."

"Fruitcake," Genkai hissed at him.

"This idiot makes Kuwabara seem smart," Hiei said.

"I admit. I'm embarrassed listening to him," Kurama said.

"Do you guys feel that?" I asked.

"What?" Hiei asked.

"It's the stadium's IQ dropping," I said.

Suzuka went on laughing.

"It seems the decrepit Onji has transformed into Suzuka, whose wardrobe can only be described as interesting," Koto announced.

Suzuka took a playing card and hurled it at her. She dodged it and it hit the guy behind her in the head, killing him.

"That was freaking sweet!" Koto said.

"I already told you, put a beautiful in front of my name. It's very important," Suzuka said.

"For somebody who wants to be known by the world, you sure hide behind a lot of masks," Genkai said. "You must be compensating for something abysmal."

"The greatest legends are all shrouded in ambiguity! It seems the imagination is more captivated by the unknown! People are simply more inclined to build up in their own minds, that which they cannot see or which have multiple incarnations. Look at how they fear the devil and revere God. With mystery comes colossal power," Suzuka said. "And that power will be mine! In 1000 years they will worship me and each person will have a unique vision of me. They will say 'the beautiful Suzuka, looked like this' 'no he looked like this' and each vision will be grander than the last and I will live in their minds forever."

"I don't get what's so funny," Hiei scoffed.

"I thought clowns were supposed to make other people laugh," Kurama pointed out.

"I wish he was a mime. At least then he's just the hell up," I said.

"Let this be known throughout this land that upon my victory in this tournament I promise to eradicate the elderly from the world in honor of the soon to be late, Genkai," Suzuka said. "And then I shall strike down all who refuse to worship me, the Beautiful Suzuka, and that, as they say, will be that."

At his point, not even the audience was buying what this clown was selling. Suzuka didn't like that very much and took it upon himself blast an entire section of them into ashes.

"I don't take kindly to insubordination," he said.

This only made the audience dislike him even more.

"For once they're showing taste," Hiei said.

"I guess I fired them up," Suzuka said, going on to laugh at his own joke.

"I hate clowns," I said.

"So um. . . Is everybody ready?" Juri asked.

"Yes, let's shut this jerk up," Genkai said, obviously tired of him.

"Right! Let the battle begin!" Juri declared.

"You're feeling confident because you beat my front man, but I certainly didn't teach him everything I knew," Suzuka said powering up. "And don't think that you can try that energy borrowing trick on me. For that to work you have to zero in on my exact wavelength and you've no doubt noticed I can change that as well as my appearance." He then laughed. "You're frustrated. You can sense I have much energy but you can't hone in on it! Marvel at my art as I unleash my pallet! I call this one, Rainbow Cyclone!"

Just before he attacked her, however, Genkai worked her magic by quickly stealing his red nose, and then she was bombarded with Suzuka's attack which came out in a stream or blue and pink and red and green and orange. It hit sent her flying into the stadium wall in an explosion.

"It seems Suzuka—I mean, the Beautiful Suzuka has blasted Genkai with his beautiful Rainbow Cyclone attack! And he didn't just knock her into the wall, he knocked her right smack through it!" Koto announced.

Suzuka laughed. "It really is a spectacular attack. Not only is it lethal, but it's beautiful to look at. Aren't the colors just so lovely, although I bet Genkai didn't think so seeing as how it blasted her through that wall." He then turned to Juri. "You there! What are you waiting for?"

"Oh, right. I'll start the count," Juri said.

Genkai emerged from the wall completely unharmed, just pissed off. She jumped back into the ring and smirked.

"I know you play by higher standards, but at least give me credit for the nose," she said.

Suzuka then narrowed his eyes on his nose and was horrified to see that it was gone. Genkai pulled it out of her pocket and twirled it around on her finger.

"But when did you do that?" Suzuka asked.

"Naturally my eyes followed Genkai's every movement," Kurama said.

"I saw the whole thing too," Hiei said.

"Geez, what a moron," I said. "I bet even Kuwabara would've noticed."

Then the doors behind us opened. And there he stood in all his ginger glory.

"Speak of the devil," Kurama said. "Kuwabara."

"And only 500 seconds too late to matter," Hiei said.

"Hey! Where's that guy I was fighting! I'm not done with him yet," Kuwabara said, running up to us, out of breath.

"So tell, Kuwabara, what's worse, losing to a clown or losing to an old man?" Hiei asked.

"A clown. Definitely worse to a clown," Kuwabara said.

I placed a hand on his shoulder and shook my head. "I love you, Kuwabara, but right I am ashamed to know you."

"A nose is nothing," Genkai said. "I've ripped out vital organs."

"But I feel so naked without it," Suzuka complained.

"I've trained my body to its limit so that I could give away my Spirit Wave Orb and you're complaining about some nasal accessory?" Genkai asked, disgust apparent in her voice. "You're not a real fighter. I sure as hell won't waste what little energy I have left on your half assed routine. It won't take more than these two bare, wrinkled fist to knock your sorry ass to the ground along with that cheap rubber nose of yours. No matter what you throw at me I promise not to use any weapon other than my own muscles to pound the beauty out of you."

"I'm not going to be beaten by an old lady! If you're not going to use any spirit power than neither am I!" Suzuka declared. His muscles buffed up and expanded and his shirt ripped from his body. "Will you look at these magnificent washboard abs? Watch as I rhythmically flex my pecs!"

"I'm beginning to have a very difficult time restraining my hatred for this guy," I said.

"I know the feeling," Kurama said.

"Let me tell you what your problem is, Suzuka," Genkai said. "Admittedly, you have talent. You managed to round up a bunch of third rate demons and find them weapons suitable enough to get them to the semi-finals. You know more about artistry and technique than anyone I've met, but like a true idiot you forgot all about your strength. You're nothing but a souped up car without an engine to move it. You're even weaker than your front man."

Suzuka was pissed and ran at Genkai, but socked Suzuka in the stomach, then send him sailing across on his face. She quickly ran over and proceeded to repeatedly jump up and down on his back while he groaned in pain. Then she kicked him the face launching him up to the roof up the stadium, when he came back down she got him once more in the back.

"Wow! She's amazing," Kuwabara said.

"And the fact that he's substandard doesn't help him much," Kurama said.

Genkai finished her assault on Suzuka by pounding his face into oblivion.

"That's enough," she said stopping suddenly. Suzuka tumbled over onto the ground.

"Uh. . . Are you okay?" Juri asked. She poked his butt with her foot, but he didn't budge. "It seems that The Beautiful Suzuka, who has a remarkably firm tush is completely incapacitated which makes Genkai the winner!"

888

"I can't believe you all have made it to the final round," Botan said proudly as we exited the stadium. "You were all super."

"I got a kick out of watching you fight, Kazuma," Yukina said.

"Thank you, Yukina. I'm glad someone appreciates my strategy. You see there was no one worth wasting my energy on so I had the bad guys reveal their weaknesses so Genkai could knock them down," Kuwabara said.

"More like you made a big mess and Genkai cleaned up after you and Genkai cleaned up after you like someone always does," Shizuru said.

"That's mean, sis! You take that back!" Kuwabara said.

"Just the truth, bro," Shizuru said.

"Well no one cares!" Kuwabara said.

"Actually I'd like to hear it," Hiei said.

"Stay out of this, Shorty!" Kuwabara growled at him.

"Now children play nicely," Botan said.

"I'm leaving," Genkai said before walking off.

A red flag went up in my head and I was reminded of what was going to happen now. We had advanced to the finals, just like we'd been told to do. All of my teammates were still alive, but one of them was going to be killed.

"It took all of us working as a team to advance this far," Kurama said.

"Not him!" Hiei said.

"Hey, I fought just as many fights as you!" Kuwabara said.

"Yeah, and you lost them both," Hiei said.

I watched Genkai as she turned the corner out of sight. If I knew Tuguro was coming after her then she certainly knew it as well. She'd known the entire what was going on and hadn't even bothered to tell me.

I abandoned my friends and ran after her, but stopped when I got into the corridor. Tuguruo was there, casually reclined against a wall, Genkai was walking past him, not even sparing a glance.

"I have to talk to you later," he said to her.

Genkai turned back and looked me and then turned away, continuing on her way.

"I know," she said.

That was my only confirmation that I was imagining any of this. He really was coming after her.

"Genkai!" I called out, chasing after her, but she was gone before I could even say anything. Stopped dead in my tracks and Tuguro approached me from behind. "I don't understand."

"You wouldn't," he said.

"Why her? How do you even know her?" I asked. "What's she got to do with you?"

"The answers will reveal themselves in time, Kairi. In the meantime why don't you stop trying to fight the inevitable and prepare for the final round," he said.

"You wanted a real fight with Yusuke and now that I know about Genkai, I'm sure it has to do with the fact that he's her apprentice. But what has this got to do with me?" I asked. "Do you get some sort of twisted pleasure out of watching me watch my friends get tortured and fight for their lives while I can't do anything about it?"

"I brought you here so I could kill you, or have you forgotten that?" he asked. "I promised that you would fight and you will."

"And why are you so hell bent on that happening? What purpose will it serve to kill me if Yusuke was your motivation for coming here?" I asked.

"I'd try to deduce that before our bout, Spirit Detective, or Genkai won't be the only life I take from you here," he said walking past me.

"I won't let you," I said. "I'm not going to let you kill her."

"Hn. Do not interfere. This goes back further than you can possibly imagine. It's fate. You know all about that don't you?" he asked.

Fate. The word rung in my ears as he walked off down the corridor. I did know all about fate. It had been sucking the fun out of my life since I was a little kid. The one thing I had predicted most often had been death or pain. No matter what I tried to do, I could never change any aspect of what Is aw in my visions. They always happened exactly as I saw them.

But I hadn't seen Genkai die. It couldn't be fate. I still had time to stop this.


	27. Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked Genkai, when I finally caught up with her outside. "Have you known the entire time that he was going to do this?"

"I thought I told you to watch the finals with Kurama and Hiei?" she asked.

"You did, but I felt like this was more important for some reason," I said.

"You wouldn't understand," she said.

"Then make me understand, Genkai," I said. "How have you known this whole time that he's wanted to kill you?"

Genkai turned her back to me, and folded her hands behind herself as she always did when she was being calm and serious.

"Three months ago, the tournament committee came round and informed me that you and Yusuke were fighting in the tournament and that Tuguro strongly requested that I join you as well. I couldn't very well stand by and watch you all get killed now could I? I'd been trapped into this tournament by an old teammate and I didn't take it lightly," she said. "I knew I was going to die here."

"You and Tuguro were teammates?" I asked.

"Fifty years ago I entered the Dark Tournament with Tuguro. And we won," she said.

". . . What did you ask the committee for?" I asked.

"Tuguro asked to be turned into a demon, a very powerful one that would hardly age and that lives for centuries," Genkai said.

"Tuguro was human?" I asked.

"Yes, Kairi, he was," Genkai said. "Now, listen to me, Kairi. We all have to fight with time and old age to find our place before we die. Tuguro ran from that fight. You promise me that you'll never do the same. You've got a good head on your shoulders. I know your father taught that no one is a one man show, not if they're human and not if they're a part of the strongest race of fighters to ever come into existence. Don't you forget that everything you do will have an impact on every single person in your life. And you have to make sure that Yusuke knows that as well."

"You're saying all this like I'm going to let you go and get yourself killed or something," I said.

"Sometimes, you just have to accept fate," she said.

"That's total crap," I said, tears stinging my eyes. "You can't just tell me to turn around and walk the other way. I'm not going to. That's not how I'm programmed. My default setting is saving people. Especially people I love."

"And I'm sure that when the time comes, you'll make sure that the rest of your friends leave this island with their lives," she said.

I went to respond again, but images started to fly into my head—Tuguro standing at the edge of the crater, looking considerably somber, Genkai's mangled body lying not too far off.

The vision faded and I fell to my knees, crying.

"What's the point of all this?" I sobbed. "Why can I see the future if I can't change it? Why do I have all this power if I can't use it to save anyone?"

Genkai gently patted my head, and ran her fingers through my hair.

"You're a good kid, Kairi. Let's hope some of that rubs off on your dimwitted partner," she said.

"So, what am I supposed to do now?" I asked.

"You're supposed to win, Kairi," she said.

I sat down against a tree and watched as she walked off.

888

I waited.

I had my knees pulled up against my chest and rested my chin on them and I waited for Genkai to die. I was done crying, done being sad. I just had to wait. I knew that whether I got up to go after her or whether I sat here and waited the outcome would be the same. I'd seen it after all. That was just short of carving it out in stone.

I still only vaguely understood what was going on between Genkai and Tuguro. They were closer than Genkai was letting on, I knew that much. Whatever it was between them, it was enough to make Tuguro hate her now, and for Genkai to pity him.

And yet she was still willing to walk off and accept her death like this. And I was just going to sit here and let it happen.

A wind swept through the trees and with it came an enormous energy, Tuguro's energy. It was overwhelming. I rose to my feet and started moving towards it. This was what we were supposed to be facing in two days time. This was the same power that was supposed to kill me and, unless I managed to focus, it very well could.

The energy didn't subside one bit, but I could feel Genkai's energy fading slowly. It was just barely there, like a whisper. My feet started moving faster towards her. I couldn't sit still anymore. I had to go.

But then it was gone. I couldn't feel her anymore. And by the time I reached her, the horror of what I'd seen in my head was laid out before me.

Tuguro stood by a crater and Genkai not far from it, dead.

I could see now that Yusuke had been here as well. I could feel his energy nearby. He must've been with her when she died. At least she hadn't been alone.

"And now you've earned your spot on the team," Tuguro said to me. "Congratulations."

"You'll have to forgive me if I've lost my sense of humor," I said clutching my fists at my side. She was really dead. Just like that. "She didn't deserve this. She deserved better than to die by your hands. You're hardly worth what little energy you had left."

"And yet with that last bit of energy she couldn't even lay a scratch on me," he said.

"How could you do something like this to your former teammate? To someone you obviously cared about once upon a time?" I asked. "Do you just hate yourself so much that you have to make everyone else around you completely miserable as well?"

"I killed Genkai because she turned down the chance for the absolute power that I have attained," Tuguro said.

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely," I said. "You have fallen so far, Tuguro. I can tell. You were probably a good person once because I know otherwise she would never have anything to do with you and once you gave up your soul for this 'absolute power' of yours she did the right thing and told you to fuck off."

"Genkai was a coward," Tuguro said.

"No. You're the coward. Genkai accepted that she was human and that she wouldn't be the strongest around forever. But you ran from that fate. Your tucked your tail between your legs and ran from it like a scared puppy," I said. "It will take more than old age and weakness to keep me down. It never stopped her did it? She kept fighting until the end."

"And look where it got her," Tuguro said.

I turned from the scene. "Enjoy your last two days in the living, Tuguro. Then I hope you enjoy your time in hell."

888

Yusuke was sitting in front of a cave, sitting Indian style, staring into it. He looked so different than I'd seen him before. So angry and distressed and sad. Had I ever seen Yusuke sad?

I walked up behind him.

"Kairi," he said quietly.

"Yusuke," I said.

"Wasn't it your job to figure this out?" he asked.

"I did figure it out, Yusuke, but not until it was too late," I said. Yusuke got to his feet and turned around to me slowly. I had some explaining to do. "I didn't know Genkai knew Tuguro until he said so during the semi-finals and then it was obvious."

"Then why didn't you do anything?" he asked. "Why did you let her leave if you knew?"

I shook my head. "It was fate, Yusuke. I couldn't have stopped them if I tried."

This wasn't the answer Yusuke had wanted, and who could blame him for feeling that way. He marched right up to me and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt.

"What kind of bullshit answer is that, Kairi? It's fate so you're just supposed to let her die? You didn't even try to stop her?" he shouted at me.

"Of course I tried. I didn't understand at first, I'm still not sure that I do, but I do know that Genkai came here knowing that she was going to die and knowing that Tuguro was going to kill her and they've both known that things were going to turn out this way for 50 years. It had nothing to do with us so what were we supposed to do about it? We're just kids. It's bigger than us," I said. Yusuke stared down into my eyes and then released me.

He walked back over to the mouth of the cave and sat down.

"Why did you go?" he asked in a whisper. And then he started to cry. I didn't think I'd ever seen Yusuke cry a day in his life before.

I walked over and sat down next to him. I placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. I wanted to tell him that he was going to be okay, that things were going to work out properly, but I didn't know how.

888

Night had fallen. We'd probably been sitting out here for a few hours already. We'd sat in silence the entire time, aside from the moments when Yusuke would cry. It was horrible to see him like this. Yusuke was always so tough and Devil-May-Care, but he'd been reduced to almost a child because Genkai had died. Here I was, just sitting with him almost like nothing was wrong. How many times had I seen people die? Murder was the bread and butter to my life. Maybe Genkai's death was finally causing me to shut down and just tune it all out. I was suppressing everything.

Hers was one death too many. Now death was just making me angry. This whole tournament was making me angry. It had been slowly chipping away at my humanity all this time and I was starting to go hard in the true fashion of a Saiyan. I couldn't even cry in front of my best friend. I was going to snap and I was going to be alone with no one to sit next to me like Yusuke had because I was too proud.

"What is this place?" I asked him.

"This is where she brought me to give me her spirit orb," Yusuke said.

I nodded. This must've been the last place he saw her before she was killed.

"Before she left Genkai told me I had a good head on my shoulders because I'm always so concerned with keeping everyone safe and because I don't just worry about myself. After Tuguro I suppose how she could see that as admirable quality right?" I asked. Yusuke didn't respond. I didn't expect him to. "I know you didn't want to be Spirit Detective and I know you didn't want to come here, but you are my partner and you are here and now you have to start acting like you give a damn."

Yusuke looked up from his feet and into the mouth of the cave again, like some of what I was saying was starting to sink in.

"She said you were a dimwit and that I had to make sure that some of my awesomeness rubbed off on you. I have to make sure that you don't fuck up like Tuguro," I said. "The last thing I asked her was 'what am I supposed to do?' and you know what she said?" Yusuke finally looked over at me, tears glistening on his cheeks. "She said 'you're supposed to win, Kairi' and that means we've got to win. So get off your ass, and start acting like you're going to kick Tuguro's ass with that fancy pants Spirit Orb Genkai gave because she wouldn't want you to sit out here wasting it crying like a little sissy."

Yusuke nodded. He flipped up to his feet and wiped the tears from his eyes. I stood and dusted off my shorts.

And then Yusuke smiled, it was only a slight smile, but it was there, like he was starting to accept that things were going to be okay. Somehow it made me feel a little better as well.

He held up his trusty right index finger and pointed it at the sky. I knew what was coming next.

"Watch, Grandma," he said as he started to power up. His energy was incredible. The Spirit Gun he fired shot all the way up into the sky and knocked him over onto the ground.

"Do you think it got all the way up to her?" he asked.

I nodded. "I think so." I helped Yusuke to his feet.

His smile slowly faded as he seemed to contemplate something.

"So you're on the team now," he said.

"It looks that way," I said.

"If Tuguro wants to kill you and he wants to kill me, how exactly is he supposed to go about doing that?" Yusuke asked.

"I don't know," I said. "But that is exactly what he wants. He made a point of reminding me about it again today."

"What did he say?" Yusuke asked.

"That he brought me here to kill me and that even though I didn't understand his motivation behind that considering he just wanted to fight you that if I didn't figure it out Genkai wouldn't be the only person we left behind here," I said. "Which I'm assuming means that somehow you not fighting to your full potential is going to be my fault."

"Last time I checked you didn't control my bodily functions," he said.

"Likewise, but just do me a favor and don't let him kill you. Not only can I not handle seeing someone else die, I certainly don't want to have go through watching it happen to you twice in less than a year," I said.

Yusuke nodded. "You've got my word, partner."

888

"So what if Tuguro does go after you?" Yusuke asked me. We were outside of the hotel, on a small cliff, preparing to go in, but not quite yet.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I know you're a badass and all, but you've got more up your sleeve than just that disk cutting thing?" Yusuke asked. "The last time you fought Tuguro he ended up, you know, not being dead, and you barely made it out alive."

"Should it come down to that, I think I've got it under control," I said. "I've been getting stronger this whole summer too, actually. I just haven't had much cause to put any of my new abilities to the test if you hadn't noticed. My training was way hard."

Yusuke scoffed. "Compared to what I went through?"

"I'll give you that you probably went through hell, but I, Yusuke Urameshi, was training the good ol' Saiyan way. I'm a lot quicker than I was before. A lot stronger than I was before and I'm certainly a lot angrier than I was before," I said. "And besides, my training didn't stop once I got here."

"How so?" he asked. I took off my arm band and held it out to him. "What's this?"

"Just take it or I'm going to throw it at you which you won't like," I said.

Yusuke took the wristband from my hand and it nearly pulled him to the ground until he adjusted to the weight.

"What the hell is this?" Yusuke asked.

"All of my martial arts clothes are weighted " I said. "My arm feels all loose and floppy now like it's made of paper."

"I bet! How do your arms not fall off?"Yusuke asked handing it back to me.

"I'm used to it by now," I said. "Taking off all of my unessential clothes _and_ my shoes would probably increase my speed and strength by about 25% at the most and I'll take all the percentages I can against Tuguro."

"You're hardcore, Kairi," Yusuke said.

"And if that weren't enough, I have to wear all of this junk while training with increased gravity," I said.

"Now you're just fucking with me," he said.

"I'm serious! I trained at 100 times Earth's gravity. It was a bitch, but I'm stronger for it now, but that's practically nothing compared to what my dad can do," I said.

"I'd like to meet your dad so I can determine exactly how much bullshit you're feeding me right now," Yusuke said.

Then Kuwabara came tumbling down the cliff. He sat in a pile of rocks and stared at us for a moment.

"Are you going to come over here or just sit there and look stupid?" Yusuke asked.

"Your bad attitude's not going to ruin my day because I found my secret weapon. My totally fresh bad guy slicin' and dicin' super sword," Kuwabara said holding up the hilt of a sword.

"Really, Kuwabara? 'Fresh'? I didn't realize it was still 1993," I said rolling my eyes.

He laughed. "You're just jealous."

"Do you think it's possible for you to shut up?" Hiei appeared from around the corner.

"You really shouldn't sneak up on someone who's holding up the world's most powerful sword," Kuwabara said.

And then we saw it—Hiei's arm was bloody and mangled and singed and gross, and it was emitting a rather awful smell as well.

"The heck happened to your arm?" Kuwabara asked.

"It wouldn't obey when I gave it a specific command so I decided it needed to be punished," Hiei said.

"Well make sure you, like, wrap that thing up tonight; it smell like feet wrapped in leathery, burnt bacon and I'll be damned if I have to choke to death tonight on that smell," I said.

Hiei rolled his eyes at me.

"Where's Kurama?" Kuwabara asked.

"Kuwabara I've been standing next to you for some time now," Kurama said. Kurama was standing in the very spot Kuwabara had fallen down on.

"All right, now we just need to find the old lady," Kuwabara said.

Genkai.

We were all silent. From the looks on my teammates faces I could tell Kuwabara was the only one that didn't know.

"She's not well," Yusuke said. "She's not coming. She just needs some time to rest."

"You'll have to put up with me for the time being. Hope you don't mind," I said.

"I'm sure you'll be more than an adequate stand in," Kurama said.

Just then my phone rang in my pocket. I fished it out and answered it.

"What up, Kayko?" I asked.

"Um. . . Something really weird just happened," she said.

"Weird? Define weird?" I asked.

"Like. . . I don't know, but you guys need to get up to your room," she said. "Especially you."

This was sounding awfully suspicious. "Kayko, if there is some villain in the room threatening your life right now and you're trying to tell me that you're in danger without letting on say 'the crow flies at night'."

"Kairi stop being an idiot! Everything is fine! Just get your ass up here!" Kayko shouted at me before hanging up. I held the phone away from my face and frowned at it.

"What's going on?" Yusuke asked.

"Your girlfriend just said 'ass' to me and I don't think I've ever heard her swear before and I'm not sure how to react exactly," I said. "Also, apparently we're needed back in our room."

"What for?" Kurama asked.

"Nothing sinister apparently. Just some strange goings on," I said.

The five of us headed into the hotel and up to our room. When we got to the door, I stopped them.

"That energy," I said.

"Yeah, I feel it. It's so. . ." Kuwabara started.

"Strong," Yusuke said.

"Not only that but it's familiar," Kurama said.

And then the light bulb went off in my head.

"Oh, no. . ." I said. "Why are they here?"

"Why is who here?" Hiei asked.

I turned around. "Goodbye."

"Where do you think you're going?" The door had opened and a gruff voice was now scolding me. "Kakarot didn't drag me all the way down here so you could go run off and hide under a rock somewhere! Oh, no! If I have to deal with him so do you!"

I let out a sigh and turned around. "Hey there, Vegeta."


	28. At the Family Reunion

When I came into the room I saw that not only were Vegeta and my dad here, but Goten, Gohan, and Trunks were present as well.

I was downright speechless. I couldn't make heads or tails of why they were here, except to maybe embarrass me.

"Hey there, Junior!" Dad said pulling me into a hug.

"Hey, Dad," I said. "What's going on? What are you doing here?"

"Well, Chichi told me to come and tell you that I was here to be supportive, but actually she wants me to spy on you," Dad said.

"I think you were probably supposed to leave part of that explanation out," Yusuke said.

"Yeah. . . I can't remember which part though," Dad said scratching his head. "Anyway, Kairi, who're your friends?"

I took a deep breath and tried to remain calm. I knew my dad was an extraordinary fighter and an all around good person, but he was total crap in social situations. There was a reason he'd only heard of my friends and never actually met any of them.

"This is Yusuke, my partner," I said.

"The one that died right?" Dad asked.

"Yep, that'd be me," Yusuke said.

"And this is Kuwabara," I said. "You should hopefully remember Suichi who now goes by-."

"Kurama. I remember," Dad said.

"And this is Hiei, who pretends not to like us even though he really does," I said.

"You keep thinking that," Hiei said.

"Guys, this is my dad, Goku. The guy I'm always telling you about," I said.

"Good, because I have a question," Yusuke said grabbing my arm. "What is up with these wrist bands?"

"They're weighted so she never has to stop training. Mine are too because you never know when an alien or an android is going to try to blow the planet again," Dad said. "But Kairi's are a lot lighter than mine. When I was dead and training for the World Martial Arts Tournament-."

"Wait—when you were dead?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yeah. Cell killed me about and then I came back to life six years ago. Anyway, I was training in Other World and my wristbands and my shoes all weighed two tons each," Dad said with a nod.

The boys were silent.

"There are so many things I don't understand about everything you just said that I don't even know where to begin," Yusuke said.

"Welcome to my life," I said. "This is Vegeta by the way. He's Trunks' dad."

"All right, let me try to sort all of this out from what Kairi explained to me," Yusuke said. He pointed to Vegeta. "Your name is Vegeta and your dad was named Vegeta and your home planet was called Vegeta?"

"Correct," Vegeta said.

"And it got blown up by some alien guy called Frieza?" Yusuke asked. Vegeta nodded. "But before it was destroyed, they sent you," he pointed to my dad, "to Earth to wipe out all of life here?"

"Yes they did!" Dad said smiling.

"And you didn't because?" Yusuke asked.

"I fell down a hole and landed on my head and I wasn't evil anymore," Dad said.

"Oh, wow, the explanation is really that simple," Yusuke said.

"Yep," Dad said. "And look at me now, all saving the world and stuff."

"I admire your father's eloquence," Hiei said.

"Shut your mouth or I will fuck you up," I said.

"Kairi, that was _not_ very kind," Dad said. "Apologize."

I looked over to Hiei and shook my head. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dad."

"Don't be sassy, Kairi. Just apologize," he said.

I glared at Hiei who was smugly waiting for his apology.

". . . Sorry," I said.

"Apology accepted," Hiei said smugly.

And I was never going to ever live that down.

"So, how long are we going to have to stand over here before you say hi to us?" Goten asked.

"I acknowledge your existence Goten and Gohan—but not yours Trunks. . . I don't like you," Yusuke said.

". . . Well, that was unnecessarily hostile," Kurama said.

"As per usual," I said.

"Oh, Kairi! I almost forgot why we're actually here!" Dad said.

"I thought it was because Mom wanted you to spy on me while pretending to just be supportive?" I asked.

"Yeah, but that wasn't the important part," Dad said. "Do you know what's in three days?"

"The day after the finals?" I asked.

"And. . ." Dad asked.

". . . Should I actually know?" I asked.

"Yes," Gohan said.

"Then maybe someone should tell me," I said.

"It's your birthday!" Dad said. "Remember?"

"Oh. . . Is it already?" I asked.

"Yep! How does it feel to be turning 16?" Dad asked.

"I'll be 15, Dad," I corrected him.

"Oh, right. . . I guess I should cancel those balloons then," Dad said thoughtfully.

"How can you not remember how old I am, Dad?" I asked.

"Well it changes every year. How am I supposed to keep track?" he asked.

"I applaud your logic, Mr. Son," Yusuke said.

"Call me, Goku—Mr. Son was my father," Dad said.

"No. . . No he wasn't," Vegeta said shaking his head.

"Then why is my last name Son?" Dad asked.

"Just. . . Stop talking Kakarot, before you give me an aneurism," Vegeta said.

"It's like looking at Hiei and Kuwabara 30 years into the future," Kurama said.

"I'd be insulted, but I can't get over your guy's energy," Kuwabara said.

"They're even stronger than Tuguro," Kuwabara said. "It's incredible."

"I didn't say they were strongest fighters on the planet for kicks and giggles," I said. "I meant it."

"But how is it even possible?" Yusuke asked. "It's gotta be a trick or something."

"No trick. We're Saiyans. We were born and bred to be superior beings," Vegeta said.

"So, let me get this straight," Yusuke said, as he and Kuwabara sat down, staring up at my Dad and Vegeta as if they were the most magnificent beings they'd ever seen. "You guys are Saiyans, like aliens or whatever?"

"Right," Dad confirmed.

"And you're able to become so strong because you can become super powered version of yourselves—Super Saiyans?" Kuwabara asked.

"Correct," Vegeta said.

"And you haven't forced Kairi to get to this kind of level because of why?" Yusuke asked.

"Kairi's just a little bit ridiculous," Dad laughed.

"She's stubborn is what she is. More than capable of obtaining a level of power her Saiyan brethren could ever dream, but adamantly refusing to strive for it just because she can," Vegeta said. "Eventually she'll have to get over that foolish notion though. She's part of a generation of super warriors. She'll accept it eventually."

"Why do you always have to be on my case about being a Super Saiyan, Vegeta?" I asked.

"Probably because it sounds like you're wasting your potential," Kurama said.

"What kind of fool passes up the opportunity for absolute power?" Hiei asked.

And then it all came flooding back to me.

_"I killed Genkai because she turned down the chance for the absolute power that I have attained," Tuguro said._

". . . Absolute power corrupts absolutely," I said quietly. I looked over to Yusuke who seemed very quiet all of a sudden as well.

"Did we miss something?" Gohan asked.

"No," I said quickly. I desperately needed a distraction. "Oh, look, the ice bucket is empty! I'll go get some." I grabbed it from the table. "You all talk amongst yourselves."

I walked out of the room and closed the door behind myself. I just needed some time to recollect myself. I abandoned my lie, and rode the elevator down to the lobby and walked outside. I walked the short distance to the small cliff where I'd been with the boys not too long before and sat on the edge, dangling my feet.

The five stages of grief definitely existed. I felt myself go through them all once earlier today before Genkai had even died, but now I was feeling myself circle back around. Slowly I was moving past anger and wishing that there was something, anything, that I could've done to have gotten her back.

The lake was dark and reflected the sky like a mirror. It was cloudless and twinkled. The air was still warm. The breeze was gentle. Everything existed just as it should've. The world hadn't stopped turning even if it felt like it should've.

"Detective."

I looked back and saw Hiei standing there much to my surprise.

"What bring you?" I asked.

"They sent me to find you once you didn't come back with ice," Hiei said. "Your father is a very difficult person to say no to."

"Yeah, I know," I said.

Hiei came and sat down next to me. "Is it Genkai?"

I felt the knot tighten in my chest.

"So you know then?" I asked.

"Her spirit energy disappeared. I could only assume," he said. "And she's the one Tuguro planned to kill all along?"

I nodded.

"Remember when you asked me if I thought everything in life was predetermined because I could see the future, and I told you that I still believed I could make my own decisions?" I asked. "I know that's not really true anymore. If I can see it before it happens and no matter how hard I try I can't change it that means that it's already been decided. I knew and I still couldn't save her."

"Maybe you just didn't try hard enough," he said.

I stood, angry, and hit him in the arm as I started to cry.

"How could you tell me I didn't try hard enough to save her? I tried! I always try my hardest," I said crying. I sat back down on the bed and sobbed into my hands. "I came here trying to save everyone, that's all I ever tried to do and I failed. But. . . Genkai knew what was going on."

"Did she?" Hiei asked.

"I thought for a while that if I had known she knew Tuguro before that I might have been able to do something, but this has been bound to happen since before I was even born. He always wanted to kill Genkai and when he ran into Yusuke and me he finally found a way to get to her, through us. Genkai knew what was going to happen when she came here. Yusuke couldn't beat Tuguro the way he was before so she gave him the means to survive and beat him at the expense of her own life. She knew she was going to die here and she knew Tuguro was going to kill her and being a person who has the unfortunate gift to see the future and is unable to change it, I should've known I was staring fate right in the face the moment he spoke to her in the semi-finals," I said, suddenly feeling much calmer than I had before. I was starting to accept that even though I hated that Genkai was dead, that I couldn't change what happened even if I had a time machine.

"What cannot change must be endured, right?" I asked. I wiped the tears from my face but they kept coming in a steady stream. I sat back down.

Hiei nodded.

"That doesn't make it fair though. It doesn't make it right," I said. "Even if she knew she was going to die that doesn't make it okay. It doesn't make it hurt any less. I just wish Tuguro was dead."

"Doesn't he want you dead too?" Hiei asked.

I nodded. "Just for the hell of it, I guess."

"But he's supposed to fight Yusuke in the finals," Hiei said.

"I know. He must be up to something and I couldn't figure out what he was up to before so I doubt I will again this time either," I said. I shrugged. "It doesn't matter. It's just a bridge I'll have to cross when I get to it."

I slumped over and rested my head on Hiei's shoulder. I felt him tense up. This obviously was beyond his comfort zone. He had our back in a fight and I supposed if someone tried to jump me in a forest he might even lend a hand there too, but physical contact was out of the question.

Of all the things in the world that Hiei was, he was definitely an asshole and at times, most times, he was inconsiderate and insensitive as well, but when he didn't push me away and instead just let me sit there and cry on his shoulder I knew something was different about him, I just couldn't place my finger on what.

Maybe he cared about Genkai too, not in the same way I had or the same way Yusuke had of course, but admiring her as a fighter wasn't out of the question. She was spectacular and he'd openly admitted that she was from day one, even before he'd known her real identity. Maybe it sucked for him because the world had lost someone who truly understood what it meant to be a great fighter.

But that would've been an inward feeling and he certainly wouldn't let on to me that he missed her. He'd carry on as usual and think it to himself and be pacified in two days after Yusuke avenged her death by killing Tuguro. He was letting me cry over her next to him like this because of me. Because of something I'd done. Maybe he felt bad about how pathetic and miserable I was being now. It wasn't as if I was usually stone faced and cold, but I was light hearted and stern when I needed to be. Now I was just sad and squishy, like a mound of silly putty with hair that had been left out in the sun too long and was starting to run.

A crazy thought. That would also involve Hiei showing some type of emotion other than exerting sarcasm.

Maybe he was just being a friend. He said we weren't his friends, allies yes, friends, no. But if a person is distraught over losing someone they care about and you're letting them cry on your shoulder—that's something you'd only ever do for a friend, someone you actually cared about.


	29. The Future Story of Kairi and Trunks

_[A/N: I don't care what anyone says, Dragon Ball Z: Abridged is totally cannon.]_

"I specifically told you not to come here didn't I," I complained to Trunk the next morning.

"You tell me a lot of things, I don't always listen though," he said.

"True," I said. "I shouldn't set my expectations for you so high."

"No one else does after all," Yusuke said.

"That's just you, Urameshi," Trunks said.

"Oh, right. And I don't respect you either," Yusuke said.

"Yeah, we could pretty much figure that out on our own," Goten said.

"Where did Dad, Vegeta, and Gohan get to?" I asked.

"Well my best guess would be that my dad challenged your dad to some type of competition and Gohan is currently trying to mediate a peaceful solution," Trunks said.

"That never gets old," I said.

"Speaking of old, didn't you say Genkai was here?" Goten asked. "Where is she?"

I looked over to Yusuke who, just like last night had the answer stuck in his throat. I suddenly felt like I could puke.

"She's not well," Yusuke said.

"Gee, that sucks," Goten said. "Think she'll be better by tomorrow?"

"I doubt it," I said. "She won't be fighting tomorrow. I'll be taking her place."

"But I thought the rules-," Kuwabara started.

"Screw the rules, Kuwabara. Tuguro wanted Kairi to fight so she is. End of discussion," Yusuke said.

Goten and Trunks could sense that things were amiss. The room was now very tense.

"How about we show you guys the stadium we'll be fighting in tomorrow and get out of this damn room," I suggested, hoping my change of subject would work.

"Sounds like a splendid idea," Kurama said. "We'll even force Hiei come with us since he hates social gatherings so much."

"Absolutely not," Hiei said. "I have better things to do than go gallivanting around with you humans."

"Wow, Kairi told us you were anti-social, Hiei, but I had no idea how little she was exaggerating," Trunks said.

"I'm happy to see that I've exceeded your expectations," Hiei said.

I was going to say that it was unnecessarily hostile of Hiei to snap at Trunks like that, but it wasn't. This was good ol' fashioned Hiei.

"Do you have some kind of problem with me, little man?" Trunks asked.

I rolled my eyes. That was definitely the wrong thing to say. This hotel room was too small to hold both Hiei's and Trunks' superiority complexes. This could turn into a fist fight easily. Hiei was an ass to everyone he met right off the bat and slowly over time he toned it down depending on how much he respected you. Challenging him wasn't the way to get him to relax.

"Now, you can't possibly think you're that important can you?" Hiei asked.

"You certainly do have a lot of talk for someone so small," Trunks said.

"Trust me, I can back it up," Hiei replied. "I can show if you don't believe me."

Trunks reached around his back and pulled out his sword. I rolled my eyes.

"What do you think?" Trunks asked.

"What do I think? I think I've only known you for five minutes and already I'm bored. That speaks volumes about one of us," Hiei said, putting his finger on the tip of Trunks' blade and pushing it away.

"Indeed. It tells me you're a bit of an arrogant bastard, quite honestly," Trunks said sheathing his sword.

"Arrogant bastard. Genius. Take your pick," Hiei said, smugly.

"I'll pick arrogant bastard, thanks," Trunks said.

I sighed. "If you two are going to continue this dick measuring contest, please take it outside. This hotel room isn't big enough to contain both of your 'egos'."

Trunks and Hiei continued to glare at each other.

"Well this has been sufficiently awkward," Yusuke said. "I'm gonna go wrangle up the girls and then we can go."

"Right. . . I'm gonna go put on some clothes that aren't pajamas," I said. "Where exactly are we going?"

"We can go show them the stadium Kuwabara ended up in twice yesterday when he wasn't supposed to be there," Yusuke said.

"Hey, Shut up, Urameshi! You weren't even there!" Kuwabara said.

"Sure, sure," Yusuke said walking out of the room.

I walked into my room and pulled out some clothes, Kurama and Hiei in tow.

"Hiei, I don't think I've ever seen you write someone as quickly as you wrote off Trunks," I said.

"Not true, I wrote off Kuwabara much faster," Hiei said.

"What did he even do to you?" I asked.

"Well, Kuwabara just exudes stupidity and I could feel it as soon as I laid eyes on him," Hiei said.

"I meant Trunks, Smartass," I said.

"He called me short," Hiei said.

"Everyone calls you short all the time, because you are short. Are you suddenly admitting that you're sensitive about it or something?" I asked.

"I'm sensitive about it selectively," he replied.

"And what about Trunks made you sensitive today?" I asked.

"Today I decided I'm not so fond of the color purple," Hiei said.

". . .You are unbelievable, Hiei," I said going out the door where Kuwabara, Goten, and Trunks were still waiting.

"What's up with Hiei today?" Kuwabara asked.

"What isn't up with Hiei at all times, Kuwabara?" I asked.

Kurama and Hiei came out of the room as the door opened and Yusuke returned with our fangirls, except for Botan. I could already guess where she was right now.

"Should we go find the rest of your posse before we go?" Shizuru asked.

"Nah, Dad and Vegeta are still probably trying to kill each other," Goten said. "Not worth it."

888

One awkwardly quiet elevator ride later, we were walking to the arena where we'd fought the first rounds to show Trunks and Goten.

"So what's Hiei's deal?" Trunks asked me, slowly pulling me to the back of the group, out of their earshot.

"That could mean a variety of things," I said.

"You know what I mean," he said.

"All of the random hostility toward you, you mean?" I asked. He nodded. "I wouldn't worry about it. He doesn't really like anyone."

"He doesn't even know me," Trunks said.

"He didn't like Kuwabara immediately either and I'm pretty sure he likes you more than him," I said.

"Come on, Kairi, you have to see what's going on here," Trunks said.

I shook my head. "Sorry, I don't."

"Kairi. . . He likes you," Trunks said.

I snorted. "No he doesn't. Stop talking crazy, you crazy person."

"You're being naïve," Trunks said.

"Maybe he just doesn't like being called short," I said. "You're lucky you didn't say anything about his eye. He especially hates people teasing him about his eye. People who do that usually end up as little piles of ash or getting chopped in half and stuff. He doesn't take teasing very well. . . No. He has almost no people skills."

"Almost?" Trunks asked.

"Well, the only people he manages to get through a conversation with without threatening to maim anyone are me and Kurama. But he usually tells me I'm annoying seven or eight times, and he only puts up with Kurama because he's the only one that is actually capable of getting him to shut up effectively without being insulted," I said.

"You?" Trunks asked.

"Yeah. I force him to work on his interpersonal communication skills a little bit more each day," I said with a smile.

"He doesn't seem like the kind of person who likes to be forced into anything," Trunks said.

"Nope. He hates every minute of it," I said.

"And he still puts up with you?" Trunks asked.

"Obviously," I said.

". . .He likes you," Trunks said. I groaned. "Why else would anyone put up with you being annoying?"

"You put up with me being annoying," I said.

"_I_ like you, Kairi," Trunks said.

"That proves nothing. Your logic is flawed," I said.

"How?" Trunks asked.

"Because, Hiei is. . . He's Hiei. He's different," I said. Trunks frowned at me. "Now what?"

". . . You like him don't you?" Trunks asked.

I snorted. "You're on drugs aren't you? Why would you even ask me that?"

"Why won't you just say yes or no?" Trunks asked.

"No. No I do not," I said. "Stop being ridiculous."

"All right then. What about me?" he asked.

"What about you, Trunks?" I asked.

"Do you like me?" he asked.

"Uh, no, I don't," I said.

"You're a liar," Trunks laughed.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I know because you spent the last two months at my house and you didn't just spend it all training," he said.

I shushed him. "I get enough slack from my idiot friends for the stuff they do know about."

"You do realize they're only your case about me because you're in denial, right?" he asked.

"No I'm not," I said. He looked at me incredulously. "Okay, so maybe I'm in denial slightly, a little bit."

He shook his head. "In denial about being in denial. You never cease to amaze me."

"Are you two coming?" Yusuke shouted back to us.

"Yeah. We'll catch up!" I shouted back. I turned back to Trunks. "Do me a favor."

"What?" he asked.

"Bug me about this again when the tournament is over, okay?" I asked.

"You do realize that you always say that right?" he asked. "You are the queen of avoiding things."

"I won't avoid it anymore. I promise. And don't let me avoid it if I try," I said. "It's just that I've got other things on my mind right now, one of which is making sure you don't get killed."

"Fine," he sighed. "I'm holding it to you this time though. I swear."

888

"So I chopped his head off and then I threw a dog biscuit at him—true story," Vegeta said as he recounted his adventures on Namek back to the gang in the hotel room that afternoon.

"Why'd you throw a dog biscuit at him?" Kurama asked.

"Because it was _hilarious_," Vegeta said. "But then of course Recoome got involved."

"He kind of looked like you Kuwabara!" Dad said excitedly.

"Was he an oafish moron as well?" Hiei asked.

"Actually-," Dad started.

"That was rhetorical, Dad. Also it was meant as an insult," Gohan said.

"Even if the answer was yes?" Dad asked.

"Even if the answer was yes," Goten said with a nod.

"You don't get out a lot do you, Goku?" Yusuke asked.

"Actually I'm out all of the time. I haven't been to nearly as many planets as Vegeta, but I've been nearly everywhere on the planet!" Dad said.

"Yes. I understand you spent a great deal of your childhood searching for the Dragon Balls with Bulma. From what Kairi's told us, when a wish is made on them they scatter off onto random places on the planet, all in different locations. If you looked for them several times you would've been all over," Kurama said.

"Yep!" Dad said.

"Once upon a time, the folklore of the dragon balls was very widespread. For those that believed that it was true they would've sought it out for the great power they could've attained from it. If you stopped if anyone from getting those balls the amount of enemies you could have would be astronomical," Kurama went on.

"Yeah, I made a few enemies," Dad said.

"Understatement much," Goten said.

"Right. Let me explain to you the extent to which my father pissed off people when he was a child," I said. "Have you guys ever heard of the Red Ribbon Army?"

"Aren't they some old terrorist group or something?" Kuwabara asked.

"No. They were a powerful military faction way back when. Their leader wanted the Dragon Balls for world domination right? So what does my dad do? He goes in a wipes the whole thing out the entire army all by himself," I said.

"An entire army? By yourself?" Shizuru asked.

"Like with tanks and guns and all that?" Yusuke asked.

"Yep," Dad said.

"But I don't understand why," Kuwabara said.

"They were evil, duh," Dad said.

"I guess that makes sense," Kurama said.

"Yeah, but you don't destroy an entire army without missing a few stragglers," I said.

"Like Mercenary Tao," Gohan said.

"Yeah, but he just needed a hug," Dad said. "And he rode around on a log. Who does that? He had a ponytail. He was a weird guy."

"Yes, _he_ was the weird one," Vegeta said.

"The guy Dad really ticked off was this man named Dr. Gero who was the head scientist for the Red Ribbon Army. Gero apparently took it very personally when he wiped them off the face of planet. He dedicated the rest of his life to destroying my father wholly and completely. He studied him and everyone he knew so he would know what kind of fighter he was. Even went so far as to collect DNA from him and Gohan and Vegeta and every other powerful fighter my father associated with. Do you know what Gero did then? He built the androids," I said.

"Someone created the androids to destroy you?" Kayko asked. "But you're such a nice guy."

"I know!" Dad said.

"Oh, it gets better," Goten said. "Do you know who was an android—Cell."

"No," Kurama said. "Cell did not happen because of you."

"Cell was created for the purpose of destroying my dad," I said.

"Did more than that didn't he?" Shizuru asked.

"I didn't know," Dad said.

"Not much you do know, Kakarot," Vegeta said.

"So I've been told," Dad said.

"I have a question," Kurama said. "I'm not entirely sure about how you knew the androids were coming in the first place."

"Well Kairi and Trunks told us three years before they even showed up," Dad said.

"I'm not a math genius, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't born until a year before the androids showed up which means Kairi and Trunks weren't either," Yusuke said.

"Oh, that's because Kairi and Trunks came from the future," Dad said.

". . . I guess the next question is if I'll regret asking how on earth that's possible," Yusuke said.

"It's easy actually. In the future, an alternate future, Goku got sick and died of a viral heart disease. Then the androids attacked and no one was strong enough to defeat them and everyone was killed except for Gohan. Kairi and me were just babies at time," Trunks said. "Eventually, still in this alternate timeline by the way, Gohan trains me to fight to the androids, but then Gohan gets killed, and then I nearly got killed so Kairi learned to fight too and my mom built a time machine so that the two of us could come to the future and warn everyone about the androids so that we could change history."

"This is making my head hurt," Yusuke said.

"I had to absorb all of this information as a child. How do you think my head feels," I said.

"So you and Kairi came from the future to warn them about the androids so they could stop them? I'm assuming something didn't go as planned the planet was thrown into," Kurama said.

"The hell it didn't. Told us there would be two androids attacking and there were at first and Kakarot did get sick just like they told us, but by coming and warning us they somehow inadvertently changed the future," Vegeta said. "We got three more androids set on us _and_Cell."

"We didn't figure it out until Kairi and Trunks from the future showed back up and told us that those weren't the same two androids that were fighting at all," Dad said "Gero set out the other three and they killed him. As it turns out Cell came from the future too."

"Everything you people keep saying just makes it get weirder and weirder," Kuwabara said.

"What happened was that Cell in our timeline was an abandoned project. He was a bunch of Cells from the strongest fighters on the planet combined together to make one ultimate fighting machine. Gero didn't think it would work so he was forgotten about here. But in another alternate future, Gero set him out, Cell killed Gero, killed me and Trunks, stole our time machine and came to our time and set loose hell on Earth," I said.

"I'm finally beginning to understand why you're so weird, Kairi," Yusuke said.

"Yeah, I figured you might," I said.

"All right, now who's the real winner of the Cell Games because I know it wasn't the moron Mr. Satan," Kuwabara said.

"That'd be me," Gohan said. "After Cell exploded and killed my dad and managed to come back. I got so pissed off that I just annihilated him."

"Yeah, not before he killed Trunks though," Goku said. "I'd don't think I ever saw you cry like that before, Kairi."

"Well it wasn't actually me. I never had a reason to cry like you're talking about," I said. "Not that I wouldn't be super sad if you were dead, Trunks."

"Thanks for the reassurance," he said.

"Oh, it's all right Trunks. Besides, in the future the two of you were-."

"No, Dad!" I shouted jumping to my feet. "Stop. Talking. Now."

The room went still and my dad stared at me, confused.

"Come on, Junior. I wasn't about to say something ridiculous that time that I could tell," Dad said.

"Nah, you were just about to say something she didn't want us to know," Yusuke said. "And as her dad you're obligated to tell us anyway."

"No you are now, Dad. Yusuke is a liar," I said. "And if you keep lying to my dad I will castrate you."

"Kairi, we had this discussion, you cannot threaten to cut off someone's penis every time they make you mad," Dad said.

"That's a discussion someone's actually had to have with you?" Hiei asked.

"I have two brothers, Trunks, and Kurama. Of course it was," I said.

"Mostly because she was serious part of the time," Gohan said.

"As punishment you should tell us what you were gonna say so she'll learn her lesson," Yusuke said.

"Don't give him ideas, Urameshi!" I shouted. "Dad, you cannot say anything."

"Give it up, Yusuke. Kairi's a daddy's girl. He not gonna say anything to make her mad as long as she asks," Goten said. "But I could and I wouldn't feel bad about it."

I turned and glared at him. "You will not speak or-."

"Or what? I got a pocket full of senzu beans and I ain't scared of you," Goten said. "In the future-."

I tackled Goten face first into the ground, sat on his back and twisted his arm up his back.

"Children, I don't ask for much, but I don't tackle each other indoors," Dad said.

"Tell Goten to keep his mouth shut and I won't tackle him," I said.

"Totally worth it. Kairi in the future-."

I took my free hand and pushed Goten's face into the carpet.

"How's that carpet taste, Little Brother?" I asked.

"Like I'm about to ruin your life," Goten said when I released his head. "Kairi and Trunks-."

I pushed Goten's face back down into the carpet. "Wrong answer. Wanna amend it?"

"Yeah, actually. In the future, boys, should you ever find yourself in my position, Kairi has one weakness," Goten said. He moved his hand to grab my wrist and tanked hard.

"Mother of Kai! You jack hole," I said getting my feet. "The hell is wrong with you? You don't just go around dislocating people's wrist like that!"

"Goten, we talked about this—you cannot dislocate Kairi's wrist," Dad said.

"You tell your kids a lot of things they don't listen to don't you?" Yusuke asked.

"Seems that way," Dad said getting up to his feet. "Do I have to intervene in this?"

"No, as long as Goten keeps his whore mouth shut," I said.

"Language, Kairi, sheesh," Dad said.

"Kairi and Trunks got married in their alternate future," Goten said.

"Say what!" Yusuke laughed.

"I still got one good arm to choke you with," I said.

"Bring it on, Short Stuff," Goten said.

"I may be five-foot-two but I will kick your ass," I said.

"If your little arms can even reach me," Goten said.

"All right, that's enough," Dad said.

Then my right ear started screaming in pain. Dad had grabbed onto my ear and done the same to Goten's.

"Make up, now," Dad said.

"Sorry, Goten," I said.

"Sorry, Kairi," Goten said.

Dad let us go and I grabbed my ear.

"Thanks, Dad, I use that to listen," I said.

"I love you to death, but you get that sassy mouth of yours from your mother," Dad said.

"Do you want me to fix your wrist, Kairi?" Yukina offered.

"No, it's fine, I got this," I said. It didn't take more than a second to pop my wrist back into place. "Man, I hate that."

"How can you just do that?" Yusuke asked.

"I could show you," I said. "It's easy. You wouldn't believe how often you dislocate things in a fight."

"Not often actually," Yusuke said.

"That just means you're not doing it right," Trunks said.

"That's what she said," I said.

"I'm gonna smack you again," Kurama threatened.

888

"I'm seriously just getting ice this time," I said, scooping ice out of the machine and into the bucket.

"You ran off last time. You can't be trusted," Dad said.

"Well, hand me that other bucket then," I said putting the full bucket in his hands. "I don't need a babysitter." I started shoveling ice into the empty bucket and Dad cleared his throat.

"When were you planning on telling me Genkai was dead?" he asked.

I slammed the lid to the ice machine closed and turned around to him.

"I sensed her energy was gone. Couldn't find it anywhere. Knowing when someone's dead and knowing when you're hiding something is kind of what I do," he said.

"I don't want to talk about it," I said starting back toward the room. Dad grabbed my shoulder and stopped.

"I know I pretty much let you do whatever you want, but when I tell you we're going to talk, I do expect you to listen," he said. "Why haven't you told anyone?"

"I don't know," I said. "They'll all find out anyway whether I tell them or not."

"But it's not good for you," Dad said. "Keeping everything inside like that will make you crazy."

"I'm already crazy, Dad," I said. "I just want Tuguro to get what's coming to him tomorrow."

"You're not usually a vengeful person," he said.

"I don't usually let people kill my family either," I said.

"Tuguro killing Genkai was not your fault," Dad said.

I sighed. "I know. But I still hate that I knew about it and couldn't do anything to stop him. Besides, Genkai wants me to make sure everyone else gets out of here alive. I'm not going to be able to do that unless Tuguro is dead."

"I know you fight best when you're angry, but be careful tomorrow," Dad said. "You know you're a lot more like your mom than you are like me."

"Oh, really?" I asked.

"Yeah. You get all this rage and you get all crazy and stop thinking clearly," he said.

"What would Mom say if she heard you say that?" I asked.

"I don't know, but we should probably keep what I just said a secret," he said. I nodded. He patted my head. "You'll be all right, kiddo."


	30. Promises

_[A/N: Happy New Year everyone! Please enjoy the first post of 2012! Working diligently to get this series finished before I start back to school in a few weeks!]_

The next morning the sun was barely peeping in through a crack in the curtains. The finals had come at last and the uncertainty of my confrontation with Tuguro was starting to build up inside of me. I also knew next to nothing about the rest of his tea which made me concerned for my own team.

And then there was Yusuke and Tuguro's warning about him failing and it being my fault. That I still didn't understand and neither did Yusuke. It wasn't going to be enough to just tell him to be careful this time. Yusuke was going to have to take this round completely serious if he wanted to come out ahead, and I'd have to be on my guard as well.

I climbed out of bed and walked over to curtains and pulled them open. I stared out the window. It was a glorious day. The sky was clear and blue, the sun was high, the water splashed gently against the rocks. Despite all of this, I couldn't get past the overwhelming sense of doom that I was feeling. Nothing about today was going to be as peaceful and still as the Earth was making it seem.

I walked back over to my bed, noticing that Hiei and Kurama were up already. I pulled my clothes out of bag. I didn't wear my orange and blue gi often because I never really had much cause to, but today seemed like one of those times where it would be appropriate. It looked very much like the ones my father wore, minus the kame symbol on the back also; I wore long sleeves instead of short sleeves.

I got dressed and packed my things back into my bag as Kurama entered the room. We locked eyes for a moment, and then he quietly went over to his bed and sat down.

I went back to the window and pushed the window open. I took a deep breath of the fresh air and then closed it.

"What exactly are Tuguro's plans for you?" Kurama asked me. I shrugged. "Are you concerned?"

"Very," I said.

"It'll be dangerous just waiting around to see how it all plays out," he said.

"There's no time left for me to figure it out. I haven't got a choice," I said. "Besides, I'm more worried about you guys than I am myself."

"And everyone else feels the exact opposite of that," Kurama said. I turned around to him. "Someone's got to be concerned about you, the lynchpin of group."

"Yusuke's the main target," I said.

"Then he'll most definitely be going after to you to get to him now won't he?" Kurama asked. I shrugged. "Be-."

"Careful. I know. I've been saying it to all you this whole tournament and it's been going in one ear and out the other," I said. "Especially you."

Kurama chuckled. "I have caused a fair amount of trouble for you haven't I?"

"And then some," I said. I walked over to the door.

"Kairi," Kurama stopped me, "you really do need to be careful. Your family is here. If something happened to you, it could cause a disturbance."

"Yeah. . . I bet it would bad if there were a bunch pissed off Saiyans trapped inside of a dome with us," I said. "Even though my Dad could totally Tuguro. Hell, Gohan could take Tuguro."

"That is beside the point. Their interference would be grounds for our instant disqualification which is the opposite of what we want," Kurama said. "The people have targeted for you may be more than capable of defending themselves, but the same does not apply to anyone else."

I sighed. Kurama was right. His mother, Kayko, Yukina, and Shizuru were all completely helpless in this kind of situation. Not to mention the fact that Shiori knew absolutely nothing about the kind of weird life I was leading that Kurama had found himself mixed up in.

"I'll go and talk to them," I said.

"Right now?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll meet you guys downstairs," I said.

"Hurry up. We've got to be there in half an hour," Kurama said.

I nodded.

I walked out of the room and found Hiei sitting in his usual seat by the window.

"Morning," I said.

"And where are you going?" he asked.

"Stop by my dad's room. I'm going to meet you guys downstairs," I said. "Are you prepared for today?"

"Very much so," he said.

"Usually that arrogance of yours would bug the crap out of me, but it actually gives me a little bit of hope for today," I said.

"I have no intention of losing," Hiei said.

"Glad to hear it," I said. "So can you promise me something?"

"What?" Hiei asked.

"Don't die. I know I genuinely get on your nerves and sometimes I do it on purpose just to bug you, but I'm only like that to people I care about and whether you like it or not that includes you and I don't want you to die anymore than I want it to happen to Kurama or Yusuke or Kuwabara," I said. "There's already one too few of us leaving here and I don't want to add to that number. I've always been able to trust you to handle yourself properly because you're our sure thing and you're very. . .confident which is good, but I've seen that confidence become someone's downfall too many times to not tell you to be careful like I've been telling it to everyone here. . . So just promise me you won't die, because I'd really, really hate that."

Hiei let out a sigh. "You have my word I won't die."

". . .Thank you," I said.

Hiei didn't answer so I eased made my way out into the hall and walked down to the room my visitors had taken up. I knocked on the door and waited patiently until Trunks opened the door.

"You look ready for a fight," he said.

"I look how I feel," I said. "Is everyone up?"

"Yep. We were just about to go meet up with Kayko and the others to walk over to the stadium together," he said.

"Good," I said walking into the room. They were all there, thankfully, none of them trying to kill each other this morning. "I need to talk to you. Seriously."

"What about?" Gohan asked.

"While we all find your confidence in us to win today reassuring, but the truth of the matter is that none of us has any idea what to expect today. We've trained as best as we can and all we can do now is hope that it was enough," I said. "That being said, things don't always go according to plan. . ."

"And by that you mean what?" Dad asked.

". . . No matter what happens to us in the ring today you cannot interfere, at all, period," I said.

"Are you telling us we're just supposed to sit there and _watch_ while they kill you should it come to that?" Goten asked.

"Demons play by a different set of rules than us. There's hardly been a time when anyone has left the ring alive in this tournament and I guarantee you that we don't have anyone in that stadium on our side besides you guys and everyone else here won't forgive us for making it this far with our team so intact," I explained. "Everyone here wants us dead and the rules strongly encourage that outcome."

"I don't know that I can accept that request," Trunks said.

"You don't have a choice. If you interfere, we get disqualified and then it's hunting season on our families and they're not all as qualified to defend themselves as you all are," I said. "We know none of this is fair and I'm asking you basically shut off your instincts, but that's the way it's got to be. Winning is our only option."

They were all quiet. It wasn't every day that I was instructing them to let me get killed if that's how things were going to turn out.

"You sure you know what you're doing?" Dad asked.

"Nope," I said shaking my head.

He sighed.

"Okay," he said.

"We aren't actually agreeing to this are we?" Goten asked.

"It's not our battle to fight," Dad said. "They've got to do this on their own."

"If we do lose, however, I do ask that you look out for the girls, and then you're more than welcome to have your way with Tuguro and his team," I said.

"You've got it," Dad said.

I glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was time for me to head out.

"I've gotta go," I said.

They all nodded, silently, and walked out of the room. I boarded the elevator and rode it down to the lobby where the boys were waiting by the door for me. I walked up to them.

"You guys ready?" I asked.

"As we'll ever be," Yusuke said. "It's time to kick some ass."

888

We were just waiting now. Any minute now they were going to call us into the stadium and we would walk out into the arena for the final round.

"I don't see why Genkai doesn't have to be here today like the rest of us," Kuwabara broke the silence.

"She's sick. I told you that," Yusuke said.

"Ah-ha! It just so happens that I know a special remedy that can cure any illness! Let me see, first you hang upside down for a while, then you eat five lemons, drink some two day old tea with pepper in it and then you wrap your body in seaweed," Kuwabara said.

"So tell me, what's it like living in a constant haze of stupidity?" Hiei asked.

"I've had enough of your lip, half pint!" Kuwabara scolded him.

_"On my left, team Urameshi!"_

The doors began to slowly slide open in front of us, letting in everyone's boos and jeers. Yusuke and I exchanged glances and took a deep breath and then stepped out to face what was coming.

The demons were especially riled up today and for good reason obviously. This was supposed to be the last time any of us saw day light.

"I wish I could teach every one of these guys here a thing or two about manners," Kuwabara said.

"Your attention please," Juri said. A hush fell over the audience. "Please put your hands together for everyone's favorite, Team Tuguro!"

No one cheered. They all just waited silently as the doors slid open. At first we saw nothing, but then they emerged from the darkness like the things in my nightmares. Tuguro, on his shoulder his brother was perched as always. Behind him came his behemoth, Bui, clad in his outrageous armor, and Karasu, clad in black, wearing only a mask. Kurama had told me a bit about their abilities—Bui's ability to materialize an enormous axe out of thin air and then swing it quickly and accurately. And Karasu seemed to be able to destroy things just by touching them. I knew better than to think that was all they had though.

The four of them stared us down, mocking us with their calm demeanor. They were so smug and confident, like they were going to kill us and then go home and take a nap or something.

But then, as there always was in this tournament, a problem arose. People started shouting and complaining that Tuguro only had four fighters on its team.

Juri pulled out the rule book and gave it a read.

"All ten competitors must be present and fights in a series of one-on-one fights, assuming five fights are necessary. The first team to three wins will be the champions," Juri said. "Both teams need to have five fighters, so Team Tuguro must present another fighter otherwise you will be disqualified."

Team Tuguro didn't so much as flinch at Juri's words or make an effort to respond to them. They just stood there, as smugly as ever, like no words had come out of her mouth at all.

"Uh. . ." Juri started, like she wanted to impress upon them the seriousness of the issue, but was too terrified of them to actually do so. Much to her luck, the doors behind the team slid open and out walked Team Tuguro's fifth member, Sakyo.

"Well if it isn't Mister Black-Black Club himself, I said.

"Trust me, I'm no fighter. I'm merely here as a place holder. Surely you know that's obvious detective," he said.

"I figured you weren't the type to get your hands dirty," Yusuke said.

"And Team Urameshi," Juri said turning to us, "while you do have five fighters present, the rules clearly state that your alternate can only fight when one of your previous team members is dead. You can't just switch."

Truthfully, this was something we had counted on and we knew that it was something that Tuguro had counted on as well. When he saw neither Yusuke nor me answering, he, as the two of us had predicted, stepped in to save us from disqualification.

"I have special plans for _both_ the Spirit Detectives in this final round, suffice it to say that Genkai is no longer a factor in this tournament," Tuguro said.

Everyone seemed to be debating on whether or not my participation was okay: on the one hand they didn't want a bunch of dirty stinkin' humans bypassing the rules like this, on the other hand watching me get killed by Tuguro didn't seem like too bad of a trade off.

Finally it was the tournament committee who stepped into hand us our final life line.

_"The tournament committee has unanimously decided that Kairi's participation as alternate in the final as okay."_

"And now the question is what is he up to," Yusuke said.

I took a deep breath. "Looks like we're going to find out soon."


	31. Somebody Call the Bomb Squad

_[A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long. I started back to school and was immediately stricken ill and had to catch up on a cubic fuckton of homework. But I'm back and ready to finish out this saga! Also,** please see the bottom for an additional note** about some important stuff I'd like input on. Thankie mucho!]_

The first person to step forward was Karasu. He climbed into the ring and raised his right index finger to the side of his head.

"Bang," he said in almost a whisper.

"Man look at him trying to scare us with his dumb finger," Kuwabara said. "Man I'm gonna beat him until his mother doesn't recognize him."

"Calm down there, Killer," I said.

"Yes, if you don't mind, I'll handle this one," Kurama said. His voice was calm, but the look on his face was serious. There was something going on in his head. At this point I had learned to stop trying to figure out what was going on his head and just trust him. He was psychotic and always took so many risks. I had to trust that he knew what he was doing. He'd seen Karasu fight after all.

"Be careful," I told him.

"I will," he said.

"No, actually be careful this time," I said seriously. "I won't forgive you if you don't make it out of this alive."

Kurama nodded. "Noted."

Kurama climbed into the ring with Karasu.

"And it's been decided! The first round of the finals will be between Karasu of Team Tuguro and Kurama of Team Urameshi," Juri announced.

We were hit with a wall of sound as everyone shouted excitedly, ready for the bloodbath to get begin.

"It's finally time to get the finals underway! Everyone in crowd is going absolutely bananas over Karasu!" Koto said.

"What the hell are you talking about? We're all for Kurama!"

"Go for it, Kurama!"

I sighed and looked up into the stands where the girls and my family were fangirling their absolute hardest.

"If they start a riot in the stands, I'm gonna be pissed," Yusuke said.

"Likewise," I said.

"And let the math begin!" Juri declared.

Kurama wasted no time getting started, surrounding himself in a whirlwind of flower petals.

"It looks like Kurama's back to his old plant tricks, surrounding himself in a cyclone of flowers—Karasu must stink," Koto commented.

Karasu approached Kurama, but stopped as he encountered a flower petal that sliced his cheek.

"A bunch of flower petals acting as blades. How glamorous," Karasu said briefly.

Karasu was strange. There was no other word that I could think to describe him as. He was so calm and quiet, almost like Kurama. He made my skin crawl.

Karasu observed the flower petals for only a moment longer and then suddenly they all started to explode and float uselessly to the ground.

None of us was quite sure what had just happened; only that Karasu had done because Kurama looked incredibly perturbed by the situation.

"But I thought. . ." Kurama began.

"You thought that I could only cause explosions with my touch did you?" Karasu asked. His voice was still calm and still gentle. "You mistakenly underestimated my abilities. You see, I only use my hands for show, but I don't need them. I only need my energy."

Evidently, I had every reason for Karasu to rub me the wrong way.

He leapt at Kurama, not even touching him, just gently passing by him. Instantly there was an explosion and Kurama's arm took a blow. He knelt on the ground, clutching at his bleeding limb. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears.

Karasu chuckled. "I didn't even touch you. Do you know why that is? Well I'll give you a hint. I can control something the same way that you can control plants. I can also create that which I can control." Karasu held up his right hand, like he was holding something in it. There was energy, but I couldn't see it. From the looks on my teammates faces they couldn't either. "At your current power level you can't see what I have in my hand, but I can promise you it's real."

"Why hasn't Kurama transformed yet?" Kuwabara asked.

"Transformed? Back into Yoko?" I asked.

"Yeah. Suzuka gave him that stuff that transformed him the last time. Kurama said it should only take a few minutes to kick in, but it'll let him stay in his Yoko form for 15 minutes," Kuwabara said. "If he could only transform. . ."

As much as I disagreed with the boys taking strange gifts from people who dressed up as clowns in their spare time, Kuwabara was right. If Kurama could transform into Yoko he'd be more than capable of defeating Karasu.

"I'm tired of talking," Karasu said. "Are you prepared to die? I'll even let you have a closer look at the energy that I can control." The energy in Karasu's hand began to change and shift and then I could see it.

"It's a bomb!" Yusuke said.

And just like that, Karasu tossed it at Kurama. The resulting explosion was massive and it engulfed Kurama entirely. My stomach twisted itself into a knot for only moment, when a rose came shooting out of the dust cloud, slicing right through Karasu's hand.

"How lucky, that surely would've ripped Suichi's human body to shreds."

I let out a sigh of relief. He'd transformed in time.

Karasu removed the rose from his hand and tossed it to the ground, finally seeming irritated.

The dust settled and Yoko was standing there. He was roughed up from the explosion, but other than that seemed completely in control.

"All right! Kurama's got this in the bag now," Kuwabara cheered.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yoko Kurama has returned to give us a repeat performance!" Koto cheered.

"A demon who can create and control bombs with his energy," Yoko said. "I'm happy to meet a Quest class but. . . I'm going to kill you."

"It is you who will die," Karasu said, materializing a new type of bomb. It was a round, purple ball, with a lit fuse atop it. It floated in mid-air. It grew wings and then a large eye popped out of the middle of it. Karasu created a whole herd of these and then all at once they charged Yoko. Despite the imminent threat of destruction, Yoko remained outstandingly cool.

"Have you ever heard of a plant called the mimosa? It closes up its leaves in response to fire, physical contact and vibrations," Yoko said.

"I don't have time for a lesson in horticulture," Karasu said. The bombs spread out around Yoko. "You're surrounded. What will you do now that there's nowhere to run?"

"This," Yoko said curtly. From all around him massive plants sprouted up from the ground, effectively destroying the bombs. They reached several stories into the air. Their leaves were long and thin, and they had elongated mouths filled with razor sharp teeth. From the tops of the leaves there was a long stem and there was a head and another mouth filled with teeth.

"The mimosa of Demon World are much more short tempered than those of the Human World," he said. Then he turned to Juri. "Unless you want to be devoured do not move."

Juri was on the floor of the ring. She barely nodded in response. I doubted if she was breathing.

The heads of the plants started to growl and hiss at Karasu.

"It seems as though you've been recognized as suitable prey," Yoko said. The plants lunged after Karasu. "You can't escape it."

"What a great reversal here! Kurama has taken the reigns in this fight and Karasu is in a tight spot!" Koto announced.

Just as the plant was coming down on Karasu, he materialized a grenade and tossed it into the mouth of one of the plants. It exploded and fell to the ground, but this only agitated the other plants.

"That didn't work the way you intended it to, now did it?" Yoko teased as the other plants ganged up on Karasu. Finally one managed to grab hold of him, knocking his mask of. It slowly pulled him inside. The other plants joined together and formed a massive ball around Karasu and devoured him.

"Kairi, is it just me, or did those plants look a lot like vaginas?" Yusuke asked.

"Why would you even ask me that?" I asked.

"You're the only one here with a vagina," Yusuke said.

I shook my head. "Let's stop talking about female anatomy and just be happy that Kurama won. How about that?"

"Yeah, and it only took him five of the 15 minutes he had as Yoko," Kuwabara said.

"Considering Karasu is currently being devoured by plants! Kurama is the victor!" Juri declared.

_**BOOM!**_

There was a massive explosion of Karasu's alleged cocoon. Karasu reappeared, banged up and visibly irritated.

"Who says I'm incapacitated?" he asked.

"Sorry! My mistake! The match goes on!" Juri corrected herself nervously.

"I really liked that, Kurama. You just make me want to kill you more and more," Karasu said almost sweetly. Then Karasu inhaled. His hair slowly began to turn a bright shade of blonde and his energy began to rise higher and higher.

"He's absorbed all of the flammable material around him through is mouth and now holds it within himself," Hiei said. "He's turned himself into a bomb."

"Well, shit," Yusuke said.

"His hands are probably triggers. If he goes off he'll destroy everything within range," Hiei said.

"Double shit," I said.

Karasu jumped into the air, His energy kept growing and until finally, he went off.

The explosion was massive, taking out one of the stadiums walls with a good chunk of the audience. We'd barely reacted in time not to get blown away.

When the dust settled, the arena was littered with debris and giants stone.

"Is everyone all right?" I asked as we all became acclimated to our surrounding.

Kuwabara stood from beneath a pile of rubble, rubbing his ears.

"Does anyone else hear singing?" he asked.

I sighed and then turned back to the ring to see what had become of Yoko.

To my horror, Kurama had changed back into his human form and had taken a great deal of damage from the explosion.

"No way! It's only been five or six minutes! He's supposed to have more time!" Kuwabara said.

"Now isn't the best time for thinking," Karasu said. "Although, if you'd like to say your prayers, feel free. You can ask your maker why he flawed with you. You're about to meet him after all."

Kurama looked like he tried to create his whip, but he didn't have the energy.

"Looks like you're all out of Spirit Energy," Karasu said.

Kurama wasn't ready to give up. He ran at Karasu, attacking him with his bare hands, but Karasu dodged him easily.

"Do you think that he's you think it's very wise to be so close to me? Have you forgotten about my bombs?" Karasu asked.

"I will not be afraid of something I cannot see," Kurama proclaimed before striking Karasu square in the chest, knocking him back several feet across the ring.

"Honestly, Kurama, resorting to your old tricks? How sad," Karasu said. He dug his fingers into his chest and pulled out Kurama's tiny death seed. Kurama was starting to get desperate. I don't think I'd ever actually seen him desperate in a fight. He was actually running out of ideas.

Karasu tossed the seed in the air and it exploded.

"But, I suppose I must reward you for injuring me with such a used up trick," Karasu said.

Suddenly, a clamp rose up from the ground and grabbed hold of Kurama's leg. Up with it came a bomb with a face that began to laugh maniacally.

"I call this my mad bomb," Karasu said.

And then it exploded. Kurama fell over onto the ground. He was obviously in pain, but he managed to get back to his feet. Karasu had opened a whole new batch of bombs that completely surrounded him.

Kurama went to move again.

"Kurama don't move! You're surrounded by bombs!" Yusuke shouted.

Kurama froze immediately.

"I thought you weren't going to be afraid of something you can't see? It's no matter. You probably couldn't move if you wanted to. It's taking all the strength that you have to keep you on your feet. You can't make your plants to protect you," Karasu said. "I could blow you to pieces right now if I wanted to, but I don't think I will."

Karasu set off a few of his bombs, causing Kurama to cry out in pain. He fell down to his knees and slowly got back up.

"I want you to stay close to me forever. I don't want to damage your beautiful face," Karasu said. "Instead, I'll kill you slowly."

Karasu went off and started off exploding the rest of his bombs. Kurama fell over onto the ground and this time he didn't get back up.

"And he's down!" Juri declared before beginning her count.

"Kurama!" I called out. "Kurama, get up!"

Juri was still counting and Kurama was barely moving on the ground.

"There's no need for a countdown. This is to the death, after all," Karasu said.

Finally, at last, Kurama lifted his head and his energy started to rise. Suddenly, he shot out a plant to attack to Karasu. It latched onto Karasu's chest and started to drain the life away from him. It looked like Kurama had won, but something was wrong.

"His life energy is fading. . ." Yusuke said.

It was. Kurama's energy was deteriorating quickly.

I shook my head. "This isn't happening. This can't be happening."

Hiei grabbed my arm, preemptively restraining me from doing something stupid. "There's nothing you can do."

I couldn't breathe. I was too in shock to even cry.

Kurama's energy was gone. He was dead. Karasu was dead.

"That's. . . Hard to call," Koto said.

"He. . . He's dead," Yusuke said. I couldn't believe this was actually happening. My chest was aching.

But then, something happened.

Kurama got up. His energy was barely there, but he was alive. Even he seemed surprised to be alive himself. Clearly his last attack had been meant to use up the last of his life energy.

Yusuke and Kuwabara cheered and I let out a sigh of relief.

"I can't believe it! Team Urameshi has been giving us surprises the entire tournament, but win by resurrection is a new one! Just call Kurama the Comeback Kid!" Koto cheered.

Hiei released my arm and quickly jumped into the ring to assist my wounded cousin.

"I swear to Kai, if you ever do that to me again, I'll actually kill you," I said tossing my arms around him and pulling him into a hug. I didn't care that he was covered in soot and blood. I was just happy that he had survived.

"Choking. . . Not breathing. . ." Kurama said.

"Sorry," I said. "I can't believe you're alive."

"I'm sorry. . . If only I'd gotten up a second sooner," he said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "He's totally dead."

"It's not wise to get so excited before the official ruling," Kurama went on.

"And, the winner is Karasu!" Juri declared.

"What the crap?" I asked.

"Wait, we were watching the same match right? I mean, Karasu is clearly dead and Kurama is clearly standing, even if he is being aided by a teammate," Koto said. "Maybe Juri got confused because both of their names start with 'K'. That must be it."

"Hey Fish Ears! I've got a bone to pick with you!" Yusuke shouted, jumping into the ring. He marched right past Kurama and me and up to Juri, grabbing her arm.

"Excuse me, but I'd appreciate if you let me go," Juri said.

"And I'd like you to remove your head from your ass, but I don't see that happening!" Yusuke said.

"This is not how you resolve the situation, Yusuke," I said.

"Get you gross hands off me!" Juri said.

"Why did Kurama lose the match?" Yusuke asked.

"Fine! Your friend lost the dumb match because he stayed on the ground for 10 seconds after I started the count!" Juri shouted at Yusuke.

". . . Oh. Why didn't you just say that?" Yusuke asked.

"Jerkass!" Juri shouted at him.

"All right! I've got the instant replay of Juri's 10 count right here, so without further ado, let's go to the movies," Koto said.

On the jumbo screen Karasu's final onslaught on Kurama. When Kurama fell to the ground, Juri started her count. A timer ran across the bottom of the screen, and shockingly, Juri had been right. 10.28 seconds later, Kurama was up attacking Karasu with his plant.

"See, Koto. 10.28 seconds," Juri said.

"Wow. I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't seeing it myself. Looks like for the first time in tournament history we've got a winner who's dead and a loser who's not," Koto said.

"Stupid technicality," I said.

"Well, at least you're alive," Yusuke said.

The pair of us helped Kurama out of the ring and he sat down on the ground. The crowd started up with another one of their customary chants.

"Two more to go! Two more to go!"

"I've had it up to here with this moronic chanting!" Kuwabara complained. "That's not even a clever chant!"

"It doesn't matter. We'll just make them eat their words later," I said.

_[A/N II: I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. In the meanwhile, I had a question for you guys! I've written an arc that takes place after Chapter Black that I'd love to post, but in addition to being YYH/DBZ it's also a **BLEACH** crossover. How would you feel about me posting it? I have a poll up on my homepage where you can vote, and also feel free to message me or tell me how you feel about it in the reviews! I'll try to updates soon!]_


	32. I'm 4'10 But I Could Kick Your Ass

_[A/N: I know you're all anxious to find out who Kairi fights, but it's a secret. You shall find out in a few chapters! Also, let me know what you think about the Bleach crossover idea.]_

The chanting went on, much to our chagrin.

"They think they're so clever with their chanting. At least our guy survived," Kuwabara said.

"Don't you realize that that's not the point?" Elder Tuguro said. We looked over at him, still perched up on his brother's shoulder like a bird. "The winner of the tournament gets anything they want from the Tournament Committee. Do you know what I'm going to ask for?"

"I have a feeling you're going to tell us," Yusuke said.

"I'm going to wish for the deaths of everyone on your team," he said. The stadium erupted into cheers.

"And do you know what I'll wish for?" Hiei asked, suddenly. "The deaths of everyone that Tournament Committee so that we never get bullied into their circus ever again."

"I agree with that sentiment," I said.

Silently, Bui stepped into the ring. That was all the prompting needed for Hiei to take his cloak off and toss it over to me.

"I can handle him," Hiei said.

"Try not to lose control of this fight. I've had all the anxiety I can stand for one day," I said.

"What was it you said about me?" he asked. "I'm your sure thing."

I relaxed a little. I was still really tense after Kurama's fight and seeing that Hiei was about to go up against a giant didn't settle my nerves any. But in a way, Hiei's confidence was infectious and it made me feel better.

"Besides we had an agreement. I don't intend to go back on it," he said.

I flashed him a smile. "You haven't let me down yet. Why should I start worrying now?"

Hiei gave me a nod and jumped into the ring.

"The hell was that all about?" Yusuke asked.

"Don't worry about it," I said.

"And for the next fight, on Team Tuguro standing at nine feet, Bui! And from Team Urameshi, standing at four-foot-ten, excluding is hair, is Hiei!" Juri said. "And let the second match begin!"

To start things off, Bui extended his hand upward and a giant axe dropped down from the sky. He caught it in his hand and he sunk down into the ring.

"Holy shit. That axe is almost as big as Hiei," Yusuke said. "There's no way he's going to be able to swing that fast enough to hit Hiei."

"Eh," Kurama stated, but he didn't need elaborate. Bui leapt at Hiei, swinging his axe down on him. He was incredibly fast to be wearing so much armor and to be wielding such a large weapon, but Hiei was still faster and he dodged easily.

"Seriously? That wasn't even worth countering," Hiei said.

Bui took his axe and slammed the blade into the ground. He lifted it back with a giant block of concrete attached to it. Then he swung it quickly at Hiei.

"Whoa! Look at that physically power! It's incredible!" Kuwabara said.

Hiei dodged the block and it went flying into the stands.

"You could at least aim for me," Hiei said.

Bui took his axe and continued to launch chunk after chunk of the stadium ring at Hiei which he easily dodged.

"I know I'm a small target, but this is kind of pathetic," Hiei taunted him.

Bui's grip on his axe tightly and then hurled the entire thing at Hiei. Hiei, braced himself and then took his fist and punched the head off it. It past Bui's head and landed in the audience.

"I'm a little bit concerned about the high number of casualties that this fight is causing," I said.

"At least they'll be quiet now," Yusuke said.

Bui held his hand up in the air and materialized another axe.

"At least you're consistent—consistently foolish to think that this axe will have any more affect than the last," Hiei said.

Like most people that Hiei encountered, Bui had enough of Hiei's smack talk and ran up to him swinging his axe as he did.

"He's so fast," I said.

"There's no time for Hiei to dodge," Yusuke said.

But there was no need. Hiei grabbed the axe with his bare hands and it disintegrated into nothing.

"Remind me not to let Hiei touch me again, like, ever," Kuwabara said.

"I'll make a note of it," Yusuke said.

"I said be serious. You think with no energy that piece of metal rubbish could do anything against me? I'm disgusted with your sloppiness. I told you that axe would have as little effect as the last did, much to your disadvantage and my boredom," Hiei said.

"Sorry to bore you," Bui's voice boomed. "Perhaps in order to win I should remove my armor."

"Ladies and gentlemen, did you hear that? For the first time in tournament history the behemoth, Bui has spoken!" Koto said.

Bui pulled off one of his shoulder pads and tossed it to the ground. It sank into the ground like a rock.

"How can he move so fast wearing all that?" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"Practice," I said.

Bui went one removing the rest of his body's armor and as he did we could suddenly feel his energy.

"That's his energy? I can't believe we couldn't feel it before," Kuwabara said.

"That's because his armor contained it," Kurama said.

"Contained it? Then why the hell would he take it off?" Yusuke asked.

"No. Contained as in held inside. Definition number two," Kurama said.

"I was saving this for someone else, so you can be sure that this is the highest compliment I give," Bui said.

"You can be sure, I'm honored," Hiei said.

"Most wear armor to protect themselves from their opponents, but that is not the case with mine," Bui said removing his helmet to reveal a head blue hair and there was a large scar at the bridge of his nose, taking over a large portion of his forehead that ran down under his eyes. "I wear armor to protect my opponents from myself."

He tossed his helmet out of the ring into the pile of his discarded armor.

"You see, I wear all of that armor because my battle aura is so powerful that even I can't control it," Bui said. "I'd like to see you over power it."

"I know you'd love to see me try, but I doubt I'll have to," Hiei said.

Bui'd had enough of Hiei's arrogance and charged up for a powerful attack. He shot his energy out at Hiei. The ball of energy was massive, but good ol' reliable Hiei wasn't about to be defeated. He sent the attack flying back at Bui, hitting him dead on causing a massive explosion and creating a massive crater in the ring.

Hiei looked incredibly pleased with his success.

"All right! How embarrassing must it be to get beat by your own attack," Kuwabara cheered.

Before anyone had time to get excited, it became apparent that Bui was in fact, not defeated. Hiei grimaced as Bui climbed out of the crater, almost completely unscathed.

"I'm sure you're surprised," Bui said. "But I make a point to only send out attacks that can destroy my opponents. As you can see that's not nearly enough to hurt me."

"Smart man," I said.

"Kairi, you can't compliment our enemies!" Kuwabara said.

"What? It's just general common sense that you don't send out an attack that's powerful enough to kill you unless you have to. I hope you're taking something valuable away from this experience," I said.

"You know they won't," Kurama said.

"Apparently, it'll take more than this to get rid of you, but not to worry, I've got a weapon of my own," Hiei said holding up his right arm.

The bandages were wound tightly around his arm and covered with a seal.

"Gee, it sure doesn't look like Hiei's arm has gotten any better," Kuwabara said.

"Those bandages aren't there to heal," Kurama said.

"So what the hell? Those bandages are just there to look pretty?" Yusuke asked.

"No. Judging from that seal they're serving the same purpose as Bui's armor," I said.

Hiei ripped off his seal and unraveled the bandages to the ground. On his arm, there was no wound, but instead there was just the mark of the dragon on his arm.

"You're right, Kairi. He needs it to control his power. If they don't place limits on themselves, their power is unimaginably destructive," Kurama said.

"If neither of them can control their power, if they, like, somehow crash together couldn't that be potentially catastrophic for everyone in the stadium?" I asked.

"The answer to that is undeniably yes," Kurama said.

"Well, shit," I said.

"Shit indeed," Kurama said.

Hiei had less control of his energy than Bui did, as proof of it leaping from his arm and killing the weaker demons in the audience as he charged up for his attack, at least was more control than he had the first time he used the Dragon of the Darkness Flame.

"That's good news. It seems Hiei has learned to control the dragon better," Kurama said.

"Better—that's comforting," Yusuke said.

And then Hiei launched the dragon at Bui. We all held our breath as it flew across the ring toward Bui. We were prepared to see him fall victim to the same fate as Zeru, but then. . .

"He caught it!" Kuwabara shouted. "With his hands!"

"Thank you Mister States the Obvious A Lot," Yusuke said.

"I hope you don't think that dragon's finished yet," Hiei said. And to our utter astonishment, Hiei's energy climbed even higher.

"Juri get out of there! It's not safe anymore!" Koto called out.

I'd forgotten all about Juri in the ring. She was lying on ground, cowering in fear, crying.

"I don't wanna be a cute referee girl anymore!" she cried.

Koto groaned and climbed up onto her table. She pulled out a rope and lassoed onto Juri's tail, and dragged her out of the ring. And it just in time too, because the dragon grew to enormous size and launching Bui all around the stadium. It incinerated members of the audience, and was effectively turning the entire stadium into rubble before our very eyes.

The dragon launched Hiei right through the roof of the stadium, causing a massive explosion that took out an entire section of the stadium and annihilating the audience. The ring was in shambles and as the dragon tossed Bui in and out of the stadium over and over again, it shook violently. As Bui struggled against the behemoth attack, the stadium was turned from a dimly lit dome to a run-of-the-mill open air stadium.

It was astonishing to say the very least.

But then things took a turn.

Somehow, someway, Bui managed to take the dragon and reverse it, sending back towards Hiei. Just as quickly as it had overwhelmed Zeru in his first match, it overwhelmed Hiei. Before we could blink, both he and the dragon had vanished from the stadium.

"I cannot believe! Bui was all but devoured, but in a dramatic turn of events Hiei has been devoured by his own glorious attack!" Koto called out. "Looks like it's time to rack up another win for Team Tuguro!"

The four of us stood silent and horrified. I clutched his cloak tighter in my fingers, sick with anxiety that I knew wasn't going to go away. We'd all just seen Hiei swallowed up by the dragon. What I was holding in my hands was probably all that was left of him.

But that couldn't be right. I thought back to what we'd said to each other this morning.

_"So just promise me you won't die, because I'd really, really hate that."_

_Hiei let out a sigh. "You have my word I won't die."_

He'd even reassured me before he got in the ring. This was all wrong.

"Juri get up! He needs the official call," Koto said.

"Mom, tell work I'm sick today," Juri said. She was lying on the ground because she had cried herself to sleep.

"Juri, all the cutie and rich boys will be watching," Koto said. Juri sat up slowly and sleepily. "Well we know where your motivation lies. Now make the call!"

Juri climbed back into the ring and looked around slightly dazed.

"Well," Juri began, "Hiei can't fight without a body so-."

"Don't be so hasty."

I could feel Hiei's energy manifesting itself inside of the ring and then suddenly he was there, standing in the ring, completely unscathed as if he hadn't been gone at all. The only thing different about him was that the dragon on his right arm was gone.

"All right!" Yusuke cheered.

"Hey, where did that thing on his arm go?" Kuwabara asked.

"I. . . I don't believe it," Kurama said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It seems that Hiei has mastered that dragon. He consumed it and now holds it in himself. That is the only true way to master the dragon," Kurama said.

"You mean he ate it!" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"Since he holds the dragon within himself he has complete control over it," Kurama said.

Bui was obviously out of sorts seeing that Hiei was alive. He went in and gave Hiei one good punch across the face. Hiei was unmoved.

"Hn. Nice," Hiei said.

Bui was not happy about this. He went in for another hit, but Hiei wouldn't have this. He dodged and hit Bui right in the stomach, launching him high into the air. He followed this up with knocking Bui right into the stands.

With Bui and Hiei in the stands, Juri started her 10 count.

"I don't know what just happened, but I'm pretty sure I'm okay with it," Yusuke said.

Hiei returned to the ring on the count of eight. Juri finished her count and at last, we were rewarded with our first victory of the tournament, much to the displeasure of the audience.

Hiei climbed out of the ring and walked over to us.

"You are just. . . There are no words to properly sum up, like. . . I can't even right now," I said.

"I think that's Kairi's way of saying 'good job'," Kurama said.

"Right. Now that you've completely destroyed Bui, how about you go 20 yards that way and beat up the rest of the team," Kuwabara said.

"That's against the rules. Besides, my attack has expired," Hiei said.

"Expired?" Yusuke and Kuwabara asked.

"You two morons may not be smart enough to realize it, but that attack drained a good deal of my energy," Hiei said with a yawn. "I'll require some hibernation to restore my energy."

"Hibernation?" Yusuke asked.

"Hn. Fancy word for being lazy," Kuwabara said.

"Think you can find a place for my body where it won't get stepped on? I'm trusting you two fools and Kairi with the rest of this tournament because I don't have a choice. If I wake up and Tuguro's team has won I swear I'll kill. . . you. . . all. . ."

And with that Hiei passed out on the ground, asleep.

We all couldn't help but laugh.

"That's Hiei for ya; he falls asleep and he still has time to make threats," Yusuke said.

"It's funny. He doesn't look nearly as threatening now that he's asleep," I said. It sounded like a joke when I'd said it, but I meant it. Not only did he seem nonthreatening, but there was something else different about him. He seemed peaceful.

"I've just been informed that we're going to have a long intermission to fix the ring. Please feel free to move around the parts of the stadium that still exist and don't forget the snack bars," Koto announced.

"I guess we should get him moved then," Kurama said pulling Hiei up from the ground.

The ring was in ruins. It had been massacred into giant chunks and bits of debris. An entire wall of the stadium had simply ceased to exist. Bui was defeated and our sure thing was having a well deserved nap. Hiei was really a piece of work. Save for the 10 seconds of anxiety that he gave me when vanished after Bui sent the dragon back at him, he'd kept his promise, and even though the stadium was destroyed and even though we'd won the match the fact that he still hadn't let me down was all that really mattered.


	33. The Epiphany

_[A/N: Took a break to write this buffer chapter before the final two rounds while I determined exactly what I wanted to do. Hope you like it! It's long because I didn't want to have too much filler before the start of the next fight in the next chapter so I just put it all here.]_

Looking at the stadium, we realized that intermission was going to be a long one. Half of the stadium was roofless, and there was an entire section where there was absolutely no wall of stadium left at all. The ring was in pieces ranging from the size of small boulders to pieces of gravel. Hiei had really outdone himself.

We were all back in our locker room, silently waiting for some news about an approximate time that the stadium would be finished so we could get this over with, but an hour passed and no such news arrived.

I was left sitting in the locker room by myself, with only sleeping Hiei as company. Kuwabara and Yusuke were getting restless and Kurama took them to go investigate what exactly was happening with the new ring they were bringing in.

I was a lump sitting by the window. I didn't feel like doing anything. There were too many thoughts going through my head. The delay had made me anxious. I wished we could've gotten this over with in one run, but now there was a break. Before there wasn't time to think about what was coming next, but now I had to just sit here and contemplate what Tuguro was planning.

I had the stupid thought that if Hiei was awake, he'd reassure me. That's all he'd been doing the past two days—calming me when I was teetering on the edge of insanity. He'd talked me down after Genkai died, helped me keep my cool when Kurama was being pummeled, and kept me confident that I had nothing to worry about when he faced Bui.

I was still holding onto his cloak from before his match. I squeezed it tightly, in a vain attempt to try to channel some of his thoughts to figure out what words of wisdom he'd have to say to me this time.

When I decided this was a moot venture I dropped the cloak into my lap with a sigh and looked over to him. He was just sleeping, like he did every night, except without talking. He was probably too tired to talk in his sleep with all of the energy he used fighting Bui.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and plopped my head down against them, exhausted from thinking too much.

I could smell Hiei's cloak; my face was practically buried in it. Hiei had a strange smell—not that it was bad. I was so used to high school where boys always wore cologne or manly body spray or scented deodorants. Hiei was just different. This was just what Hiei smelled like, just Hiei.

_Look at yourself, Kairi. You've become one of those creepy girls who smells random articles of clothing belonging to guys you like._

That thought horrified me. I didn't want to be one of those creepy girls to be sure, but the most alarming part about what I had thought was that I had thought it about Hiei. That part of my brain had just told me that I liked him.

I got to my feet quickly, putting Hiei's cloak on the back of a chair on the other side of the room. I felt a strong need to distance myself from it now. It had been the catalyst to that thought in my head.

I couldn't unthink what I'd thought. It kept playing in my head. Every time I looked over at him sleeping there, I could see this image of myself in my head nodding at me saying, "Yep, you totally like him."

But that was impossible. It was Hiei after all. Hiei. He was short and grumpy and completely unsociable. He talked mad shit about humans all of the time and he was so arrogant that it made me crazy. Most of the time I just wanted to hit him in the face for being a jackass. On the other hand. . .

I couldn't say that he was "nice" to me. In comparison I suppose it looked that way compared to how he treated Kuwabara and Yusuke. He still made fun of me and it wasn't beyond him to be rude, but the way he talked to me was just different than the way he talked to other people. He was almost considerate of me. He'd told me once that he _almost _enjoyed talking to me and that of all of my friends, he disliked me the least, which, in Hiei language, meant "I do enjoy talking to you and value your company," which was a high compliment coming from someone who didn't like anyone.

There were recent events to consider as well. He'd come to sit outside with me when I was upset about Genkai. I know my dad had asked him to, but even after I hit him and screamed at him he still sat there and let me cry on his shoulder for 10 minutes. And then this morning he promised me he wouldn't die, and made a point to remind me of it again before his match. Maybe he'd only said because he was an arrogant bastard, sure, but Hiei wasn't dense. He knew I was anxious and scared and that it would make me feel better if he humored me, so he did.

And then there were his skills as a fighter. He was fantastic. Awe inspiring. He'd, more than once, left me speechless after a match. Like after today, or after the first time he used the dragon.

_"I never saw an attack that could make me swoon before."_

_Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Are you sure it's the attack that's left you swooning?"_

_"What else would it be?" I asked. "What else could make a person swoon?"_

_"Well, Kairi, I don't know if anyone has ever told you this, but sometimes girls have these things called feelings and sometimes they're directed at boys," Yusuke said._

Shit. There was no denying that Yusuke was right. That Kurama was right. That Trunks was right. How the hell did this happen?

I needed to not be alone in the same room with him, sleeping or not. I started to move to the door when Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara returned.

"A helicopter!" Yusuke complained. "They have to fly out a helicopter from the main land to the other stadium to hook it up to the other ring and then fly it over here!"

"And how long is that going to take?" I asked.

"It's going to be your birthday before the next round starts," Kurama said.

I groaned. Just what I needed, more things to be anxious about.

"Next time let's tell Hiei _not_ to destroy the whole stadium so we can all go home and take a nap," Yusuke said.

"Agreed," Kuwabara said. "What've you been doing in here anyway, Kairi?"

_Definitely not trying to determine whether or not I actually like Hiei. Nope. Not that at all._

"Thinking," I said. "Just thinking."

"What about? The next rounds?" Yusuke asked.

"Yeah," I said. That's what I had been thinking about originally after all. "But what's the point of thinking about it. None of us knows what's going to happen. All we really know for certain is that the older brother is fighting next."

"Well who's supposed to take him?" Kuwabara asked.

"That's the million dollar question isn't it?" Yusuke asked. "But we don't know what Tuguro's up to. We're playing by his rules. Our only job is to survive and beat him at his own game."

"Well it's obvious that Kairi's stronger than me. She should fight him," Kuwabara said.

"And I would, but I doubt that's what Tuguro wants," I said. "He said that he wanted to kill me. When you want to have the satisfaction of killing someone you don't send your brother to do it."

"But what about Urameshi? He wants to kill him too," Kuwabara said.

"Hence the dilemma," Kurama said. "But another factor to consider is that he says Kairi going to make or break Yusuke in his fight against him. We don't know how that's possible, but it's going to have something to do with Kairi being in a fight, which strongly implies that he could want her to face his brother, but as Kairi said Tuguro intended to kill her himself. However. . ."

"What?" Yusuke asked.

"I've been considering the tournament committee's involvement," Kurama said. "They approved of you being our team member in place of Genkai without question which leads me to believe that they're involved in Tuguro's plan."

"In what way do you think?" I asked.

"Not like with Team Masho," Kuwabara said.

"No, I believe it's much simpler than that. I think we might have to consider some kind of adjustment in the rules for the final round that accommodate Tuguro's intentions," Kurama said.

"You mean, they'd do something like let him fight twice in a row?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes, I suspect it's something like that," Kurama said. "I feel that Tuguro is doubtful enough of your abilities that he would find the arrangement fitting—to kill one of you and then still have enough energy leftover to kill the other."

"Sounds like Tuguro," Yusuke said.

"Looks like for the next round we'll be counting on you, Kuwabara," I said.

The locker room door opened and our posse entered.

"Still asleep?" Trunks asked.

"After the amount of energy that it took for him to use that attack, I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't up and about until tomorrow," Kurama said.

"I didn't think a little runt like him would be capable that kind of power," Vegeta said.

"None of us did, and yet here we are, waiting for hours until the stadium gets fixed because of him," Yusuke said.

"And what an attack. It must've taken him a long time to master such a technique," Gohan said.

"Hiei used that attack for the first time during his first match against Zeru and somehow he managed to perfect it just today. It's as if he was trying to make us all feel inadequate from day one," I said.

"It is Hiei after all, Kairi. I'd say it's a likely possibility," Kurama said.

"And what about you mister-I-Can-Come-Back-From-the-Dead?" Goten asked.

"Yeah, your spirit energy was totally gone in the ring," Kuwabara said.

"Oh, yes, it seems that potion that Suzuka gave me that allowed my transformation into Yoko had a curious side effect. Although the amount of time that I was able to transform into Yoko decreased, it raised my life energy considerably and thus spared my life during that final attack against Karasu," Kurama explained.

"You really are full of surprises," Yusuke said.

"So many so, apparently, that I even surprise myself," he said.

"So who's supposed to fight after the break is over?" Kayko asked.

"Kuwabara of course, to face the elder of the Tuguro brothers. I am completely confident in his ability to successfully succeed," I said.

"Really?" Kuwabara asked.

"You all manage to pull through when we need you," Yusuke said.

"True facts—you're the one that saved us by somehow defeating Risho despite your entire body being completely mangled from taking a purposeful direct hit from Team Ichigaki," I said. "Which you shouldn't do this round, by the way because Tuguro won't miss."

"Got it," Kuwabara said. "But I figured you'd want to kick his butt yourself after what happened after the first round."

I groaned. "I completely forgot about that. I think I was trying to repress that entire day."

"What happened?" Gohan asked.

"Essentially, everyone saw me naked that day, except for Tuguro who intentionally saw me naked and it horrible and awkward and I don't want to talk it about it," I said.

"You never mentioned that," Trunks said.

"Some incidents are better left omitted," I said. "Besides, the only ones who saw were Kuwabara, who was humiliated, Kurama who's my cousin and was therefore also humiliated, and Hiei who acted like he'd seen better and told me I looked ridiculous after throwing a towel at me."

"He probably told you that you looked ridiculous because you slammed face first into the floor, breaking your nose, screaming like a banshee after getting tangled up in the shower curtain," Kurama said. "And he throwing a towel at you was his way of trying to be a decent person."

"Yeah you're probably right. All the same, I've seen myself naked and it is not an unimpressive sight," I said, jokingly.

"Well," Dad started, "you probably look like your mom so-."

"NO! No! No! No! No!" Goten, Gohan, and I all rang out at once, urging him to stop talking it. But it was too late. My brain had already drawn up an imaginary picture of my mother, naked, and stapled it to my eyelids so I couldn't unsee it.

"What?" Dad asked. "I'm just-."

"For the love of all that's sacred don't!" Vegeta pleaded.

". . . Saiyan," Dad finished. We all groaned. "And I've seen lot's of girls naked—I couldn't tell the difference between girls and boys before so I had to check."

"You had to check?" Yusuke asked.

"Yeah. . . Bulma used to hit me a lot when I was little because I didn't know any better," Dad said thinking to himself. "She got really mad that one time I stole her panties while she was sleeping."

"What?" Vegeta and Trunks nearly screamed.

"Yeah. I didn't know what they were so I just took them off her and looked at them," Dad said.

Yusuke walked up to my dad and hugged him.

"Goku, you're my favorite, ever," Yusuke said.

"I need to get out of this room," I said.

"I'll join you," Trunks said.

"Fine, let's go. Now," I said.

"Hey! I can tell about that time we wished for Bulma's panties!" Dad said.

"No Kakarot!" Vegeta started as Trunks and I left the room, drowning out the sound of Vegeta scolding my dad with the door.

Trunks followed me out of the locker room and we walked down the deserted corridor in silence for a few moments while I recovered from what was sure to be a traumatizing conversation with my dad.

"So, everyone saw you naked?" he asked.

I laughed. "I was hoping you'd just let that one go, but here you are, bringing it up. Are you going to tell me it's unfair or something?"

"Why would I think it's unfair?" he asked.

"Well, you like me and as fate would have it, of the people in that room you're in the minority of people who haven't at some point in my life, seen me naked," I said.

"Wait? Majority of the people in that room have seen you naked?" Trunks asked.

"Yeah. Obviously my dad, and your dad used to give me baths all the time when I was little. Goten and Gohan unfortunately much to our humiliation back when I was younger. Then there was Kurama and Hiei. Kuwabara accidentally walked in on me getting out of the shower and I almost killed him. I use the locker room with Kayko all the time at school so I've seen her naked more times than I can count and Yusuke has seen me naked covertly two times that I know of," I said.

"That you know of?" Trunks asked.

"Yeah. Yusuke's a perv, but now he's dating Kayko so now he's only a perv where she's concerned, but I'm still thinking of a creative way to use this information as blackmail," I said.

"Good for you," Trunks said. "And, by the way, no guy is unimpressed when they see any girl naked in front of them in real life."

"Unless your name is Hiei," I said.

"Not even if your name is Hiei. Especially if the naked girl is you," he said. "And before you ask, no, I don't know what you actually look like naked, but using my brilliant powers of deduction based on your small frame and your habitual training I can assumed that, as you said, 'not an unimpressive sight.'"

In retrospect, Trunks was probably right. Hiei acted like he didn't care about most things, and whether he actually did or not was a mystery. Everyone quietly pretended that they hadn't seen me naked after that day, and Hiei, who was silent about most things, definitely didn't see any reason to make a fuss over my naked body (even if it is exceptional). However, there was one tiny detail that had been over looked by everyone else that Hiei had seen—the scar from where my tail had been.

Yusuke, who would never pass up an opportunity to torture, never mentioned it once even after confessing that he'd seen me in the buff. Kuwabara was surprised to hear about the tail and so he probably hadn't seen the scar either. Kurama knew about the tail, but he was my cousin and therefore completely opposed to the idea of remembering on my body that couldn't be covered by a bathing suit.

But Hiei remembered. Hiei saw it and he remembered. True, he did see most things better than other people being that he had a third eye and all, but he took a mental note of it. I'd said so myself to him that he had a picture of my nakedness engraved in his brain and he didn't deny it or scoff or do any of the normal things that Hiei does to express his lack of caring.

He'd seen me naked, and liked it enough to retain the image inside of his brain not because he was some perverted teenage boy, not because he couldn't unseen it, but because he wanted to retain it.

At this thought, I suddenly found myself retreating into that same pit of denial and humiliation that I'd fallen into with my earlier Hiei related revelation. I liked him _and_ he'd seen me naked. The thought now felt more mortifying than it had before and at the same time I was kind of okay with it.

"You okay?" he asked. "You look kind of flushed."

Flushed? Right, because I was Kairi and I never blushed and now I was and the only explanation for that was illness or something else equally bad. It was never because I was thinking about a boy.

Again, how the hell did this happen?

"Too many people have seen me naked. That's all," I said. It was true, but not the current source of my dilemma.

We stood in silence for a few long moments while various thoughts tumbled about in my head, all of them related to Hiei and whether or not I was just losing my mind.

"I know you wanted to wait until after the tournament to talk," Trunks started.

I sighed. Another issue. Trunks. I was now so deep in denial about my feelings for him that everyone could see me drowning in them. How was I physically capable of liking two people at once (if I liked Hiei at all)?

I did like Trunks. I probably always had and the idea of being with him didn't sound bad anymore, but I could didn't date him if I liked Hiei, could I? That was against the rules. You couldn't be in a relationship while maybe (probably) having feelings for someone else. Unless of course. . .

I had known Trunks longer than Hiei and liked him much longer as well. Trunks and I were together and married in an alternate universe so I knew I wasn't imagining things and that in some way we could actually be together successfully. If Trunks and I were meant to be together then it was going to happen, but if it worked out some other way that I was meant to pursue my feeling for someone else, then I couldn't be exclusive with him because that would just ruin our friendship.

"I like you, Trunks," I said.

He chuckled. "Wow. It's weird to hear you actually admit it."

"I know, but listen, I like you. This is obvious to everyone, but I like that we're such good friends and I don't want that to get screwed up, so what I propose is this," I said. "We can date, but only if it's casual. We can't be exclusive because, what if you find some other girl that you really like? I don't want you to feel obligated to stay with me for the sake of our friendship. If we know right from the beginning that it's not a permanent arrangement, either one of us can walk away if we feel like it's going nowhere or anything like that."

"And if we decide that it should be a more permanent arrangement?" he asked.

"Then we both have to agree to it," I said.

"All right, I can deal with that," he said, "under one condition."

"You name it," I said.

"We need a time frame so that after a certain amount of time has passed we have to come to a decision if we haven't already," Trunks said.

I nodded. "That's totally fair. What did you have in mind?"

He thought for a moment. "Two months."

"Two months? That's not very long," I said. "What if I decide I still don't wanna be your girlfriend two months from now?"

"Then that sounds like my problem, but I'm arrogant enough to think that it won't be an issue," he said.

I went to respond, but the ground began to tremble beneath us, the whole stadium was shaking. We immediately ran out to the field where Kurama, Kuwabara, and Yusuke has also gathered, that's when we saw it.

Tuguro was walking into the stadium, carrying the other ring on his back.

What kind of monster were we fighting?

888

"I know you can beat this guy," Dad assured me, as he now walked me through the empty corridors where the locker room was. "I'm not just saying that because you're my daughter and I'm supposed to make sure you're confident—I'm saying it because I know you are physically capable of doing it."

"We're not even sure how powerful he is, Dad," I said.

"Well, he doesn't know how strong you are either," Dad said. "You don't even know how strong you are with all that untapped potential you're wasting."

I shook my head. "I think I'm doing the right thing by striving to be an unbeatable Super Saiyan. Especially now. I think it'd be right, for Genkai."

"Why do you think that?" Dad asked.

"Tuguro used to be a human, but when he and his team, along with Genkai, won the Dark Tournament 50 years ago, he gave it all up to become the most powerful sort of demon around so that he wouldn't age and would be strong forever. He said that he killed Genkai because she gave up the chance for absolute power that he had attained," I said. "He gave up his humanity so he could be the most powerful around and I don't want to do that. It'll mean more to me if I can do this without the extra special Saiyan energy boost."

Dad patted me on the head and smiled.

"You're so backwards, Kairi. You're the only one of us not training to become the strongest. You just want to prove you're the best without actually being the best," Dad said.

"Something like that," I said. "I think that I might just use the human half of my brain more than the Saiyan half."

"Maybe that's it," he said. "But don't forget, that being a Saiyan is still a part of who you are and you have to value that part of yourself along with your humanity."

I nodded. "That Saiyan part of me is what landed me in this Spirit Detective gig in the first place and at the end of the day if I can beat Tuguro that's going to be the part of me that gets me through it."

"Good," he said. "And you can beat Tuguro. Both you and Yusuke can."

888

Five hours into the stadium repairs I feel asleep and woke nearly an hour later, feeling sick with anxiety. The locker room was deserted except for Hiei who was still asleep. My dad's vote of confidence had helped me, but I was still worried about what was going to happen. Maybe I'd feel better if I knew what I was expecting.

I stood from my chair and stretched to start waking myself up.

But then Hiei started to stir. I stopped stretching and took my seat back by the window as he woke.

"You sleep like a champ, Hiei," I said.

"How long have I been out?" he asked.

"Six whole hours," I said.

"Six hours?" he asked, sitting up. "Well who won the tournament?"

"Tuguro did. We all died and he murdered you in your sleep. We think this locker room is purgatory," I said.

"Are you capable of answering a question without being a complete moron about it?' he asked.

"Nothing has happened since you went to sleep. They called for an intermission because someone by the name of Hiei on Team Urameshi decided to level half of the stadium and turn the ring into gravel. They decided to fly in the ring from the old stadium with a helicopter which would've taken hours, but Tuguro carried it in on his back," I said. "They should be done soon though and we can get back on track."

"And who's fighting in the next round?" Hiei asked.

"We decided that the most likely candidate for that would Kuwabara," I said.

"Wouldn't make more sense for you to fight his ugly brother?" Hiei asked.

"Definitely. I'm stronger than Kuwabara, there's no question about it, but the fact that Tuguro does want to kill me himself is a problem. Kurama thinks they're going to let Tuguro fight twice in a row so he can kill Yusuke and me," I said. "Kurama said it would make sense considering the committee didn't ask questions when they let me fight in Genkai's place. Besides, who's going to argue with Tuguro killing the Spirit Detectives?"

"I certainly wouldn't," Hiei said. I frowned at him. "In the past obviously, Detective. Pardon me if I hurt your feelings."

"It's whatever," I said.

At that moment, my earlier epiphany came racing back to me and I started to feel mildly uncomfortable being in the same room with him now that he was awake. I had never in my life felt this type of anxiety from just being around another person. I had to make it stop. I had to overcome this. I had to take the anxiety and face it head on.

I got up from my seat. I walked over to the chair where I'd tossed Hiei's cloak before and picked it up. This had been what started this whole avalanche of confusion. This was the key. "I held onto this for you, mostly because you handed it to me before you got into the ring, but here."

"Thanks," he said. His hand barely touched mine as he took the cloak from me and I could feel my heart nearly explode out of my chest. I'd had awkward physical contact with a lot of people and it never elicited that kind of response. It was true. Undeniably true. I definitely, for some reason I couldn't explain, liked Hiei. It was time to abort this mission.

But I couldn't. My brain had seemed to stall and I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do to discontinue this interaction. Now I was just standing here in front of him like a moron not doing or saying anything. An awkward envelope of silence was starting to engulf us. This had never happened to me. I never caused awkward silences. Ever. I always knew what to say.

I had to do something. Do anything to make this stop.

I sat down next to him, which I immediately regretted. That was the worst possible idea ever. Putting myself in even closer proximity to the person who seconds ago had stopped all of my normal body functions by barely touching my hand. It was supremely stupid.

"Are you ill?" he asked, breaking the silence. I'd never been more thankful.

"No. Why?" I asked.

"You're being weirder than usual. And you just got all sweaty and flushed," he said.

"Oh, yeah, that," I said. I'd been foiled by my paleness once again. What had I told Trunks earlier to get myself out of this mess? "It's just that too many people have seen me naked."

Hiei seemed to pause before looking over at me looking even more puzzled at what came out of my mouth than usual.

"What?" he asked.

_What indeed, Kairi Son, what indeed._

"Sorry. It's just. . . Verbal diarrhea," I said.

"Verbal diarrhea?" Hiei asked again.

Hopefully someone would kill me today and the world would be rid of my sudden burst of stupidity. I needed to recover very quickly from this before it got even weirder and Hiei started getting suspicious.

"Sorry. I 'm just nervous and I cannot stop talking about dumb shit when I am nervous and I get all flushed and I'm sorry you had to endure talking to me," I said.

"I'm sorry I had to endure it too," he said.

For once, I didn't get on his case for being a jackass. For once, I actually deserved it.

"I don't know much about your abilities, but I know that you're capable of more than you let on. If you go to face Tuguro feeling unconfident you're not going to succeed so stop wasting your time worrying about it and just do it," he said.

I nodded. Somehow, this random pep-talk from Hiei had calmed me down. Suddenly, I felt a lot more comfortable.

"Thanks," I said.

"Whatever," he said dismissively.

"No, honestly," I said, not even thinking about the words that were coming out of my mouth, "thanks, for everything. Since we got here you've been awesome. You don't confident in the rest of us, but whenever you got in the ring we always knew that you'd win. And I feel like every time I've talked to you since I got here you've made me feel a little less neurotic which I appreciate. Especially today when you fought Bui. I mean, you destroyed half the stadium and as a result we've all been sitting here going crazy for the past six hours, but you promised me you wouldn't die and you didn't, not even a little bit like Kurama did, so thank you. Thank you for making me a little less crazy and for keeping your promise and not dying."

For once, Hiei didn't seem puzzled by my outburst, not even the fact that it was long and I spent most of it rambling which usually cause him to make fun of me. I was thankful for his silence because for once it meant that he was actually considering what I'd said, but at the same time I felt uncomfortable because this was really unusual behavior for him.

That's when we both seemed to stare at each other suspiciously.

"Why are you being so weird?" I asked.

"Why are _you_ being so weird?" he asked.

"I'm _always_ being weird," I said.

"Weirder than usual, then," he said.

"I asked you first," I said.

"You know how little I care about honing my 'interpersonal communication skills,' why are you still trying?" Hiei asked.

"Annoying persistence," I said.

"Just annoying," he said.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," I said with a wink.

He let out a slight chuckle, but waved his hand at me dismissively like he always did when he thought I was being ridiculous.

And there were was silence between us. It wasn't silence like before. This one was comfortable and pleasant, but ultimately missing something. I felt myself turn toward him slightly and he did the same in my direction. We locked eyes and I felt the need to say something, but I couldn't quite put words to it.

I moved my hand to adjust myself in my seat and, once again, grazed Hiei's hand whose was right near mine. Like before, the unexpected contact caused a reaction that I wasn't used to. But this was a more atypical than I was used to.

I don't know what came over me when I did it, but I kissed him. At the start, I didn't feel like what I was doing was a bad idea, but then I realized what I'd done and tried to keep myself from panicking, which was difficult when I realized that Hiei hadn't pushed me away yet and that he was in fact kissing me back.

I wasn't breathing. What universe was I living in where this was actually happening?

_"Ladies and gentlemen! The ring is installed and everything is up and running! Everyone please return to your seats and will both teams please be back ring side in 30 minutes!" _Koto announced.

The PA announcement had startled me I jumped to my feet breaking the kiss. Hiei and I just stood there, staring at each. He was waiting for me to say something. He wanted to know why I'd kissed him and I supposed I was in no position to ask him why he'd kissed me back. My fight or flight reflexes were kicking in. I needed to act, now.

Flight. I needed to run. "So . . . Like I said before, thank you."


	34. The Storyteller

_[A/N: I'm glad you guys are all supportive of the Bleach crossover idea! Sorry I haven't updated recently. My laptop lost a fight with a bowl of cereal so I need a replacement. Also, I just moved and am currently without internet for a while!]_

I splashed cold water on my face in the bathroom and then stared up at myself in the mirror. My skin was returning back to its normal shade as my flush slowly started to go away. I knew that the start of the last two rounds was going to prevent any residual awkwardness from popping up in the near future, which I was grateful for. That was my forte after all. I kissed guys I liked and then I didn't talk to them afterward. Luckily for me, I was certain that Hiei might just operate the same way.

I turned off the faucet and dried my face as the bathroom door opened. Kayko peaked inside, holding Puu in her arms.

"There you are. Everyone is looking for you. They're about to go outside. The rest of us are going back to our seats," she said.

"I'm coming," I said. "I just needed to clear my head."

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, all things considered, I've never been better," I said.

Kayko nodded, looking down at Puu in her arms.

I hadn't considered Kayko or anyone else this entire time. The team had been stressing about the fights and standing on the sidelines the entire time watching anxiously hoping everyone made it out of the ring alive. It just hit me then that Kayko had been doing the same thing, just from farther away.

We'd all gotten closer being here, sitting in cramped hotel rooms eating junk food, making fun of each other and marveling at how the team managed to make it through each round. I started to wonder if things would've been different if the girls hadn't shown up. We definitely would've lost to Risho if Yukina hadn't popped up and given Kuwabara his random burst of strength, Botan and Shizuru were two of the greatest bits of moral support I'd ever met, and Kayko. . .

Kayko was our best friend. Sure, she didn't mean much to Hiei Kurama who prior to the tournament had only met her that one time Hiei kidnapped her and tried to take over the world, but even they knew how important she was. Kayko was the person in existence that Yusuke would ever answer to for anything, which was good because otherwise we'd never keep Yusuke, our fearless leader, in line.

When Yusuke had died, some strange force of nature pushed Kuwabara and Kayko together and I doubt either one of them would've have gotten through that time without the other.

Kayko was the only girl friend I'd ever had growing up. I didn't spend nearly as much time with her as I should have, but when I did I always felt a strange sort of relief to be in a boy free world for a little while even if she drove me crazy trying to paint my finger nails or try on dresses.

And now she was here, watching us fighting for our lives. Watching and wondering if any of us was going to die, not knowing that if we failed we'd be paying for it with her life as well.

And here she had the audacity to ask if _I_ was okay.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

She looked up at me and smiled with her typical Kayko brave face on.

"Just make sure you guys win, okay?" she asked. "And don't-."

"Don't let Yusuke do anything stupid. I know," I said.

She smiled a little more gently at me. "You don't do anything stupid either, okay?"

"Me?" I asked.

"I know you guys don't know who's supposed to fight that Tuguro guy yet between you and Yusuke, or if it's going to be both of you," she said. "But I know Yusuke better than most people and after watching him here, I'm still worried, but I also feel this really weird sense of. . . I don't know."

"I may not know too much about what goes on in this weird arrangement you have with Yusuke that you two call a 'relationship,' but I think you're proud of him and considering his technically undefeated status here and on the streets back home you're confident that he'll continue to whoop ass," I said.

She laughed. "Right."

"But I don't instill that kind of confidence in you," I said.

"I've never seen you fight before so I don't know what you can do, but I know that if you do fight I'm going to see a part of you that I've never seen before, like what I saw with Yusuke that first day here. . . I think I'm going to actually see the real you," she said. "But you're my best friend and I know you pretty well too, Kairi. I know how you get when you're being stupid and arrogant, you make mistakes. And if I'm right about being in your element when you're in a fight—and if there's any merit to Vegeta who keeps going on about 'Saiyan pride' then I really want you to be careful."

I walked over to her and hugged her. "Unfortunately, I'm not genetically capable of being careful, and I'll use Kurama as evidence of that, but since I can't promise you careful I will promise that no matter what I'm going to be incredibly awesome."

"Incredibly awesome?" she asked as we walked out of the bathroom.

"Yes. In fact, I'm going to be so awesome that as you watch me fight, you'll slowly start to question your sexuality because you'll just be falling more and more in love with me and eventually you'll leave Yusuke in a desperate attempt to make me love you," I said.

"Kairi, everyday with you is a struggle where my sexuality is concerned," she said. I laughed. "Don't let me down."

888

I walked out onto the field where the boys were waiting for me, looking serious as per usual.

"Sorry about that," I said joining them.

"Where have you been?" Yusuke asked.

"Converting your girlfriend to lesbianism," I said.

"What?" they all asked.

"That was mostly a joke, boys," I said.

"Mostly?" Yusuke asked.

"Lighten up," I said. "You all look so serious."

"And rightly so," Kurama said.

"I'm not taking this lightly if that's what you're thinking," I said.

"Sure as hell sounds like it," Yusuke said.

"Look, do you think the Tuguro brothers are over there pondering what's going to happen?" I asked. "No. They're over there all like 'Well first I'm going to murder Kuwabara, my good fellows.' 'Righto, brother then I'm going to murder the Spirit Detectives and then we can proceed to killing everyone they know and love as punishment for losing.' 'Good deal, ol' chaps. Then we can take my jet plane back to my mansion and have a pleasant dinner of pheasant stew while we talk about how rich and sadistic I am and then I can smoke out of a pipe and count all my money. Mmm, yes.'"

They all stared at me silent and baffled for a moment. Naturally, Hiei was the first to speak.

"You're having some kind of stroke aren't you?" Hiei asked. I glared at him.

"Better question: why was your impression of them British?" Yusuke asked.

"The point is that they're over there thinking that we're worthless little nothings that they're going to murder and then they're going to go home with another tournament notch under their belts. The Spirit Detectives will be dead and all demons everywhere will rejoice," I said. "If they can stand over there and look down on us like we aren't worth it then I'm sure as hell not going to stand here and waste my energy pondering if we can do this. I'm gonna think about cake."

"Cake?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yes. _And_ sausage. And whatever the hell else I feel like eating tomorrow because it's my birthday damn it and I want to be around to see it. So we have to stop wasting our time worrying about it and just do it," I said.

"Well put," Hiei said.

I glanced over him and realized that the last words I'd spoken had been what he'd said to me not too long ago. Suddenly our encounter came flooding back to me. I still wasn't sure what had come over me when it happened. I just knew that it meant my random epiphany had been correct and that something had to be done about it.

I could take solace in knowing, in the meantime, that Hiei wanted the others to know what happened about as much as I did so that meant that as long as we both kept our mouths shut, no one else on Team Urameshi would ever have to know about the kiss.

"Well put indeed, Kairi," Kurama said.

"Yeah. I'm gonna get in that ring and make Tuguro cry for him momma," Kuwabara said.

"That's the spirit! Just remember to also think before you act because we've had trouble with that in the past as far as you're concerned and we need to win," I said. "Got it?"

"Got it," he said. "If I don't make it out alive, tell Eikichi I love her!" Kuwabara jumped into the ring.

Kuwabara, despite having been anxious just a little bit earlier, seemed to have found a new brand of confidence. He reached into his coat and pulled out the hilt of a sword. I recognized it instantly.

"That's from the Banshee Shriek," I said.

"Yes. I was not the only one who received a special item from Suzuka. Kuwabara was given the hilt of that sword. He's told me that it does something quite extraordinary to his sword," Kurama said. "We should all be in for a treat."

"I hope so," Yusuke said.

Kuwabara charged up for his Spirit Sword as he always did, but as Kurama had said, this new sword was much more impressive. It was more hectic than his old sword and gave off the vibe of being made of electricity as opposed to his Spirit Energy. Still, he was clearly much stronger than he had been before and was actually capable of defeating Elder Tuguro.

"And begin!" Juri declared.

Before Kuwabara could even move, Elder Tuguro stomped his foot into the ground and created a large crack in the floor that stretched from his feet to behind Kuwabara. It was odd, but he continued to stand there and smile smugly at Kuwabara.

Kuwabara, having had enough of being taunted in this tournament for an entire lifetime, ran at Elder Tuguro, sword raised and came down on him, slicing him open from shoulder to waist.

The audience was stunned into quiet murmurs. As for us, we were also in shock.

"Did he just. . . ?" I started.

"But he. . . And. . . Kuwabara just. . . Did he just win?" Yusuke asked.

"I don't know," Kurama said.

The confusion of the crowd and our shock was quickly destroyed by the appearance long fingers shooting up from the ground behind Kuwabara and stabbing him through the back. From the crack in the ground, Elder Tuguro oozed out of the ground like slime before taking his usual form.

"You pathetic fool. I almost don't feel badly for deceiving you," Elder Tuguro said. His voice made my skin crawl—everything about him made me feel disgusted and dirty. He retracted his fingers from Kuwabara's body and he fell over onto the ground.

"Do you like my dummy?" Elder Tuguro went out pulling his left hand up from the ground and revealed that the Tuguro we'd thought Kuwabara had killed was attached to the real Elder Tuguro. "It's created out of my own flesh. I feel a little pain, but not nearly as much as you're feeling right now." As he returned his hand to normal the dummy slowly disappeared and was nothing more than his thumb. "At the end of the day, it was really nothing more than a paper cut."

Elder Tuguro licked the blood from his finger, causing me to cringe again.

"You see, I can change my shape at will, most importantly, I can rearrange the location of all of my vital organs," Elder Tuguro said proving just that as he moved his beating heart to the side of his face. "It makes me very difficult to kill, especially with this weapon."

Elder Tuguro stretched out his fingers to grab the sword.

"Although I must admit this is a handy tool," he said. "Did the old hag leave it to you?"

My heart stopped beating in my chest.

"What?" Kuwabara asked.

"You'd think that she'd leave something like this to her apprentice, but I suppose she didn't think he was worthy of it," Elder Tuguro said.

Kuwabara was getting frustrated. He climbed to his feet.

"What are you talking about? Genkai's just sick," Kuwabara said.

I knew what was coming next and from the look on Yusuke's face he knew too.

"Oh. . . It seems your teammates have been keeping secrets from you. Tisk tisk," Elder Tuguro said. "Genkai is dead. She has been for two days now."

The shock in Kuwabara's face broke my heart. We should've told him. We should've told him a long time ago, but we hadn't and now he'd had to find out like this. It wasn't fair.

"That's not true!" Kuwabara exclaimed. Then he looked over to us on the sidelines. "Guys—tell me it's not true."

We all hung our heads in shame. We'd lied to him.

"I'm sorry, Kuwabara," I said. That was all I could say before my throat constricted itself painfully. I couldn't even offer an explanation for it except for cowardice.

"What cold hearted teammates you have to keep such a thing from you," Elder Tuguro laughed. "How about I tell you all about what happened—with a puppet show!"

He raised his arm up and it began to shift and change until it formed the image of a young Genkai.

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful young woman who trained very hard every day so that she could be the best. One day she met a boy who also wanted to be the best, and so the boy decided to play with her. Together they worked hard and made a name for themselves. Why they were together so much that they were even in love, so much so that the boy even forgot his own brother. When the time finally came the boy became a demon who would never get old and ugly, but the girl wished to be left alone and she became and old and ugly prune." Elder Tuguro emphasized his point by morphing his puppet of Genkai into what she had grown to look like.

"Brother. . ." Tuguro said, there was warning and anger in his voice.

This didn't seem to deter Elder Tuguro. He let out a light hearted laugh and returned his attention to Kuwabara.

"Oh, he's just anxious because this is his favorite part of the story," he went on. "You see, having given up her opportunity the old woman became jealous of the boy's new powers. . . So he was more than happy to kill her!" He stabbed his fingers through his puppet and it began to bleed. "Genkai's soul then drifted off to some quiet corner of oblivion and everyone lived happily ever after."

I'd just enough of his nonsense.

"That's not true!" I shouted at him.

Elder Tuguro took a break from his maniacal laughter to glance over at us.

"What?" he asked.

"You heard me you deranged psycho. I'm calling you a liar," I said.

"Genkai wasn't jealous," Yusuke said. "Tuguro killed her because he couldn't have her."

There was silence for a moment before Elder Tuguro laughed.

"Shut up!" Kuwabara said. "I think we've had enough from you."

I could feel his spirit energy growing, but Elder Tuguro seemed unfazed.

"That's mighty impressive of you, but it's going to take more than just your Spirit Energy to finish me," he said. "And I've got your weapon right here. I'd give it back but helplessness is much more fun."

"You're honor-less," Kuwabara said.

"Yes I am and now you're going to die!" Elder Tuguro exclaimed.

His hand stretched out towards Kuwabara who made no move to block or dodge. Just when we were sure that Kuwabara was done for we realized that nothing happened. They had reached Kuwabara, but they didn't stab through him.

"What. . . They won't go through!" Tuguro exclaimed.

"You have no soul. You're worthless. . . You're just a nasty little waste of space!" Kuwabara declared. He raised his hand and attacked Elder Tuguro with a barrage of what looked like tiny spirit swords. They sliced Elder Tuguro into pieces and knocked him down to the ground.

"Elder Tuguro has been left on the ground in a pile of assorted body part! We may actually get to chalk up an X on the scoreboard this go round," Koto announced.

Juri ran up to Elder Tuguro and started her 10 count while Kuwabara slowly started slinking his way back to us.

When Juri got the count of eight, she let out a horrified squeal which made us all check to see what had happened.

"Stop counting, woman!" Elder Tuguro said. To everyone's shock and amazement, he started to pull himself back together. "I should be more careful. I didn't think that you could attack me that way."

"What are you?" Kuwabara asked.

"That's a good question. Even I'm not sure. When we won the tournament 50 years ago I wished to become a powerful practically invincible demon. That was left to the tournament committee. It was all trial and error," he said as he got to his feet. "You need to conserve your energy. You're already injured and I have yet to be."

"This is not looking very good," I said. "I should've taken him. Kuwabara's skills aren't suited to attack him the way he needs to."

"I'm sure Kuwabara will figure something out. He has to," Yusuke said.

"The only way you can kill me is to pierce either my heart or my brain, but that's not very fair is it? It's sort of like looking for a needle in a haystack except the needle can move whenever it wants to," Elder Tuguro went on.

"Why don't you just shut up already?" Kuwabara complained.

"I guess the only thing that's left to do now is to kill you," Elder Tuguro said. He launched his fingers out again and stabbed into Kuwabara's back. He lifted him up into the air, a sadistic look fell over his face. "Allow me to reacquaint you with the ground!"

He took his hand and slammed Kuwabara face first into the stadium floor with a loud thud.

"Kuwabara appears to be down , so I'll just start the count," Juri said, ever mindful of her duties. "One! Two! Three!"

"You can stop counting. I have other plans for this fool that don't involve him living to see the end of this match," Elder Tuguro said.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I have to count," Juri explained.

"Then you will end up next to him," he declared.

"Okay," Juri said, backing off.

"Even if you could get up, it wouldn't matter. You'd still need to hit one of my vital organs and they're never in one place for very long," Tuguro said.

"I don't care if it's in this fight or the next. I will defeat you," Kuwabara declared.

Elder Tuguro smirked. "Well, I was going to play with you a little more but your voice grows irksome." He held up his right hand and it transformed into a sharp blade. "Perhaps I'll start by cutting out your tongue."

"Come, Kuwabara," I urged him quietly. He needed to get up and fight back.

"My mother always wanted me to be a surgeon. Too bad I played hooky the day we dissected frogs. Oh, well. Here goes," Elder Tuguro said.

Just as he went to strike Kuwabara, our comeback kid pulled a move out of his ass that even I didn't see coming. He used his energy to the drag the hilt of the Banshee Shriek over to him and sliced Tuguro up into pieces.

He climbed to his feet and let out a sigh. "I make the shots and I do want a ten count."

"I really shouldn't be taking orders from you guys, but since your request complies with the actual rules, one!"

"Stop counting. There's no need for that," Elder Tuguro said. "Kuwabara you are quite the slow learner. We've already established that my body doesn't like to go to pieces so it doesn't."

"Too bad, it's what you deserve," Kuwabara said.

"I've been very sporting with you. I've told you exactly how to kill me and yet you seem to be unfit to do so," Elder Tuguro said.

But then the most curious thing happened. The shape of Kuwabara's Spirit Sword changed. It made itself long and round and flat.

"I thought about what you said and you're right. I've got no way of knowing where your vital organs are hiding. So I'll just pound everything all at once," Kuwabara said.

I let out a deep breath.

"I'm really proud of you for not making an inappropriate joke right now," Kurama said.

"All of my strength," I said.

"Kuwabara's transformed his Spirit Sword into something like a tennis racket and I think he's about to turn Elder Tuguro into his unwilling bright, yellow ball," Koto announced gleefully.

"Stay back," Elder Tuguro said.

"Since we're sharing my mother always wanted me to be an exterminator," Kuwabara said. "So now I'm going to make her proud! Spirit Flyswatter!"

He took his Spirit Flyswatter and smashed it down in Elder Tuguro. There was nowhere for him to run or hide. He was buried beneath Kuwabara's attack.

"Whoa! Nobody around here expected Kuwbara to have enough energy left to smash Elder Tuguro into oblivion!" Koto announced.

Kuwabara pulled back his sword, revealed a giant crater in the ring.

"All right, Juri! Call the stinkin' match!" Kuwabara said.

"Okay. I'll check it out," she said running up to the hole. She looked into it. "Ewe, there's nothing left. That means the winner of the third match of the finals is Kuwabara!"


	35. A Change In the Rules

_[A⁄N: And now the stipulations of the final match are finally revealed! P.S. How long have I been spelling Toguro wrong. Ick.]_

"In a major upset, the underdogs, Team Urameshi moves ahead of the reigning champions Team Toguro, two to one!" Koto announced.

Kuwabara climbed out of the ring and walked over to us.

"It's about time you won a fight. That was awesome," Yusuke said. Kuwabara gave no snarky comeback or showed his annoyance at being teased. He looked distant, but stern and angry. "You okay, man?"

WHAM! Kuwabara gave a hard right hook to Yusuke's face.

"What was that for?" Yusuke asked.

"I thought we were a team, but I guess I'm just one big joke to you aren't?" Kuwabara asked. "Well this joke has feelings! Genkai meant a lot to me too!" He grabbed Yusuke by his shirt and lifted him off the ground. "Did you all sit around and laugh about how clueless I was? Is that how you get your kicks, Urameshi?"

I walked up to him and grabbed his hands.

"Stop, Kuwabara," I said gently. "Put Yusuke down."

Kuwabara released Yusuke, tossing him away.

"What you've got to understand is that Yusuke didn't tell anyone and I didn't tell anyone and everyone else found out about it on their own without a word from either us," I said. "It's not that we wanted to keep it from you or anyone else, but telling you would've kind of been like admitting she was gone."

"She's right. I'm sorry you found out the way the way you found out the way you did, but I won't apologize for dealing with her death the only way I knew how," Yusuke said.

We heard the hiss of the microphone and turned our attention back to the ring. Toguro had entered it and had taken possession of the microphone from Juri.

Yusuke and I exchanged glances. This was it. The moment of truth. Who did Toguro want?

"I know all of you are expecting me to kill Yusuke Urameshi in this round, and I have every intention of doing so," Toguro said. "But. . ."

There was the "but", the final answer to all of the anxiety we'd been having all day, wondering why I was even here at all.

"It has been my intent to kill Kairi Son as well, and I get the feeling she was beginning to feel a little bit useless as the alternate on her team," Toguro said. "What I am proposing is that I kill Kairi Son and then kill Yusuke Urameshi, that way we all have the pleasure of being rid of both of the detectives today."

The crowd rolled into murmurs, eager to see Yusuke fight, but not completely put off by the idea of watching the Spirit Detectives get killed either.

"I will fight Kairi and Yusuke in a two-on-one match, starting with the lady detective until she is either dead or finds herself incapable of competing, and then I will fight Yusuke, and neither may interfere in the other's fight, however, I think we should allow repeats should one of them falter," Toguro elaborated. "I don't like to leave things unfinished."

He then turned to look at Yusuke and me.

"What do you say, Team Urameshi?" he asked.

I looked over to Yusuke.

"What do you think, partner?" he asked.

"I think if I had a zeni for every time Kurama was right I'd be rolling in the dough," I said.

Yusuke chuckled.

"He's not actually giving us a choice," I said.

"Are you sure can you handle something this big?" Yusuke asked.

I smirked. "That's what he said." I winked at Yusuke who shook his head. "All right, Toguro, we're game."

It didn't take long for the tournament committee to return their decision to OK the match.

"In an incredible turn of events, Toguro is going to be taking Kairi Son before he gets to Yusuke _and_ he's going to roll it all into one exciting match! It's the kind of thing that makes all of my fangirl dreams come true!" Koto cheered. "This being the case, we'll be taking a 10 minute break to reopen the betting booths so people can bet according to the new stipulations of the match."

888

"So what are your chances?" Kurama asked. We'd walked back to the locker room to have a brief discussion on the match.

"Not horrible," I said. "Obviously we can't accurately gauge how powerful he is, but judging by what we know to be his 80 percent, I don't think I'm not too far off at imagining how strong he is at 100 percent and I should be able to at least match his strength."

"Well, what would stop you?" Kuwabara asked.

"She has the reflexes of a turtle," Hiei said.

I scoffed. "That's overstating it a bit, but he's right. Toguro has me beat when it comes down to speed. Remember when I fought him before?"

"Right. Every time you got close to him he bitch slapped you into the ground and all of your long range attacks were useless too," Yusuke said. "So what are you going to do?"

I sighed. "I'm going to have to be very sneaky. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve that I don't use unless there's an emergency and I get the feeling I'll use all of them today."

"What about the kaio-ken technique?" Yusuke asked.

"That'll be my last ditch effort. If I have to use that then it means I've run out of energy and of options and if it doesn't work successfully then you'd better get ready to step in because that will be the end of me," I said. "The only thing that I can do that will work for sure is getting close enough to him to hit him with an energy blast that he can't avoid."

"You'd have to generate a large amount of energy in a small period of time. That would be an incredible feat," Kurama said.

"Maybe you forgot, but I'm a Saiyan; incredible feats in a pinch are my specialty," I said.

"And don't you forget it," Vegeta said as he, my dad, Gohan, Goten, and Trunks walked into the locker room.

"Thanks for that, Vegeta," I said.

"Are you sure you can handle this, Junior? He's probably the most powerful opponent you've ever faced before," Dad said.

"Well, I have to try don't I? Just because you knew Cell was stronger than you it didn't mean you quit," I said. "You had a future to change, lives to protect, and deaths to avenge, and with the exception of a time travelling future version of myself, I'm in the same boat."

"You be careful though all right? Mom'll kill us if we go back and you're dead," Goten said. "Also, it would suck."

"I'll do my best to make sure Mom doesn't murder you," I said.

"Come on, Kairi, let's send Toguro straight to hell where belongs," Yusuke said.

"Actually, I've been to Hell before and the only thing really bad about it were these two greased up German guys trying to wrestle me," Dad said.

". . . And how did that work out for you?" Yusuke asked.

"Okay I guess. I managed to get away from them, but boy were they weird," Dad said.

"I bet they were," Yusuke said.

"We're gonna head back to our seats," Gohan said. "Good luck you guys."

"I don't need luck. As long as I've got my boys here, I can do anything," I said. "Just have a Senzu bean waiting for me when the match is over."

"Keep that attitude, because I'm not telling your mother you died," Dad said reaching into his pocket. He tossed the tiny green bean towards me and I caught it in my hand.

"Think of that as insurance," Goten said.

"Will do," I said snapping it underneath my wristband.

They exited the locker room.

I took deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I guess it's my turn to prove I'm not useless."

"I doubt you're useless, but you've rarely displayed your abilities in front of us. It will be interesting to see you fighting with everything you have," Kurama said.

"Interesting? No. Impressive? Yes," I said. "I keep telling you; Koenma didn't make me Spirit Detective when I was eight for no reason. I am the daughter of a low class Saiyan Warrior who grew up to be the most powerful and most feared fighter in all of the galaxy and the first to become a Super Saiyan who until then was only a legend. And my mother may just be a slightly stronger than average human woman, but she is the daughter of the Ox King and she used to run around scantily clad with a boomerang axe on her head fighting bandits and killing dinosaurs and that's gotta mean something."

"It means your entire family is fucked up," Yusuke said.

"Damn right we are. I wouldn't have it any other way. We all have to be weird and crazy to get ourselves into this mess in the first place," I said.

"And you're sure we can get out of it?" Yusuke asked.

I nodded. "If I can manage to get out of the bowels of Majin Buu alive and unscathed except for a little bit of childhood trauma, we can kick Toguro's ass," I said.

"See you're starting to turn into your dad with these weird stories and I don't really know how to handle that," Yusuke said.

"You just accept it like I did," I said.

"Do you two have a plan?" Hiei asked.

"Hiei, we already had this discussion. I never have a plan," Yusuke said.

"And it's pointless to have one now because we don't know anything about the guy we're going to fight and things are gonna go to shit anyway," I said. "But I will say this, and I'm being serious. . . Expect the worst."

"We can't do that," Kuwabara said.

"You can and you will. It's like I said. We don't know anything about his power. I could be grossly underestimating his abilities for all I know. What's going to happen when I get into that ring is this. I'm gonna be on him like white on rice, on a paper plate, in a glass of milk in a snowstorm and if that doesn't kill him I'll at least know that I've beaten him down enough so that Yusuke can do it successfully," I said.

"I don't like this plan," Yusuke said.

"But it's the only logical one. It's the worst case scenario that allows us to still come out on top," I said. "I'm not leaving that ring until he shows us one hundred percent of his power. That way if I don't make it, you can still plan accordingly."

Yusuke nodded. "You'd better kick his ass, Kairi."

"I'll kick his ass so hard, they're gonna start calling us Team Son," I said.

Yusuke shook his head. "That sounds awful."

"You're right. How about Team Spirit Detective instead?" I offered.

"I think we already are Team Spirit Detective," Kurama said. "After all, it's both of you that got us into this mess."

Yusuke and exchanged glances.

"Let's kick some ass partner," Yusuke said.

888

"Ladies and gentlemen, the bets are in, the teams are in place and a hush has fallen over the audience as this monumental match starts to sink in. You could cut the tension in here with a nine foot samurai sword. Toguro, the reigning champion versus Kairi Son and Yusuke Urameshi, tournament underdogs and Spirit World's detectives, now about to face off. First up, Kairi Son, veteran Spirit Detective and self proclaimed boogeyman and in the event that she fails she'll be tagging in her partner and underdog turned odds on favorite to win, Yusuke Urameshi," Koto announced

"Just remember, if things get too tough in there, stay down and I'll take over," Yusuke said. "I don't want a repeat of Kurama versus Touya."

I shook my head. "You know as well as I do that Toguro won't like that very much. Our fight won't be over until one of us is dead."

"Then it'd better be him," Kuwabara said.

I nodded. "I'll try not to let you down."

"And don't let your pride get the best of you. I understand you're always on our case about being arrogant and cocky, but I know you're the one we really need to worry about," Kurama said.

"Consider my Saiyan pride squashed," I said.

"You have any parting words for Kairi before she goes to face almost certain death, Hiei?" Yusuke asked.

"Try not to be an idiot," he said.

"Thanks," I said.

"And don't forget about me." 

Onto the ring walked everyone's favorite toddler, looking extraordinarily like a teenager was Koenma.

"Well, look who finally decides to show up. If it isn't our team owner," I said.

"I'm sure you're well aware that I might've been busy while I've been here," Koenma said.

"Yeah, I figured you might actually be in on Genkai's plan as well before we even got here, huh?" I asked.

"Yes, she did inform of what she felt would come to pass once she arrived," Koenma said. "But that's no excuse for you to get into that ring and start fighting like some angry kid?"

I scoffed. "The hell it isn't. You know I fight best when I'm angry. Remember the incident with Fayt, the water apparition?"

"Yes, now that you mention it, that fight was painfully one sided," Koenma said.

"What happened?" Yusuke asked.

"Let's just say that they never found the rest of him," I said with a wink. I turned and looked back and saw that Toguro was climbing back into the ring. "I guess that's my cue."

"Good luck, Kairi. And remember, you can't leave Yusuke to be Spirit Detective all on his own," Koenma said.

"Yeah, I'm useless," Yusuke said. "Kick ass out there."

I leapt into the ring in the same spot all of my teammates had stood many times before. I'd been in this ring a fair few times myself—to kill Ichigaki, to save Kurama, to save Kurama again. But this time it was my fight. It was my name up on that scoreboard. Two points went to whoever was standing at the end of the round.

The ring had felt huge every time I was in it. But now that my life was under attack, it seemed small. This was all the space that I had to defeat Toguro in. And yet somehow, I wasn't scared. Maybe my fear had dissolved into some form of psychosis, or maybe it was my Saiyan blood, but I felt excited and challenged. I felt ready.

"Are you prepared to die detective?" Toguro asked.

"I'm always ready for that given my line of work, but if you're arrogant enough to think that I'm going to let you kill me without you having to give your all for it, you've got another thing coming. I am not going to make this easy for you," I said.

Toguro smirked, seeming pleased with my attitude. "Long and hard; that's how I like it."

This time, I returned the smirk. "That's what she said."

That annoyed Toguro and he frowned at me.

"And let the fourth and final match of the Dark Tournament begin!" Juri declared.

It was time to begin, but there was an interruption. A familiar cackle rang in my ears and up from the ground, Elder Toguro pulled himself up from a crack in the ring to stand on his own two feet in front of his brother.

"Bizarrely, the Elder Toguro Brother has emerged in the ring and since I'm sure I saw Kuwabara kill him I've concluded that he's either a ghost or a zombie man," Koto announced.

"What the hell are you doing here? Didn't my friend kill you?" I asked.

"He almost did. I admit I was mighty surprised when he attacked me like that. I almost didn't have time to save myself. But rather than attempt to take on your ugly friend again I liquefied my body to slide into the ring only to emerge triumphantly now, to assist my brother as a weapon in his fight," Elder Toguro cackled.

"You dirty, rotten, cheater," I said.

"You see my brother and I only take a fight seriously when we mean to, and unfortunately for your beloved Genkai my brother wanted to kill her," Elder Toguro said. "Back in the old days she may've stood a chance. That obviously wasn't the case anymore, luckily. She used to be a real wildcat back in those days. And not just in the heat of battle if you know what I mean."

"Ewe," I said. But Elder Toguro either didn't hear me or didn't care that I was disgusted because he kept talking.

"The things she used to do with my brother. I wouldn't have minded having a pass at her, back then at least," he went on.

"You are a disgusting creep," I said.

"So, tell me, brother, what weapon will it be? A sword? A dagger? A semi-automatic machine gun? As long as we work together there's no way we can be defeated!" Elder Toguro said.

"Enough, brother," Toguro said approaching his brother. "This doesn't concern you!"

He punched his brother in the face launching him up into the sky.

"You punched me in the face! I am your older brother! How dare you treat me this way you son of a bitch!" Elder Toguro shouted as he launched himself at his brother.

"You are dead to me," Toguro said. Toguro raised his foot and kicked his brother in the face and in a flash he was going, nothing more than a red smear across the pale blue sky.

"Blood can only run so thick. I apologize for my brother's behavior," Toguro said.

"I've got an older brother too. He's not a psychopath like yours was, but. . . I understand how you could get irritated," I said. "Now I don't mean to be unsympathetic, but we should probably get started, for real this time."

"Yes, I couldn't agree more," Toguro said.

Toguro removed his jacket and tossed it outside of the ring.

"Kairi, don't be intimidated by his stupid steroid muscles!" Kuwabara shouted to me.

I chuckled a bit. Don't be intimidated. I wasn't going to be.

"All right, and for real this time," Juri began, "let the match begin!"


	36. Kairi Vs Toguro

_[Author's Note: And the moment you have all been waiting for has arrived! You'll see some illusions to Yusuke's fight, but that's okay because. . . Well you'll see.]_

Toguro launched the first attack, running at me swiftly, as he always did. To my dismay, he still had me beat with speed, but I could do this. I had prepared for it. Just before Toguro threw his punch, I speedily made my way behind him, leaving him with only an illusion of me that faded away after a few short seconds. Just as he realized he wasted his punch, leaving nothing more than a giant crater in the ring, I leapt up and struck him in the head with my foot, sending him sliding a few feet across the ring.

The first blow belonged to me.

Toguro quickly charged me again, this time, I was to slow to block and he got me right in the stomach, but I returned the blow right to his face before we separated. I charged him, this time, but Toguro was quick and blocked my attacked and got me in the face sending me tumbling across the ring. I didn't stay down for long though. I bounced up on my feet and flew at him, going faster and faster.

The horrible thing about flying is that it's incredibly difficult to dodge quickly. So when I saw him throwing a fist at me that would surely send me flying into the side of the ring with no hope of blocking it, I did the only thing I knew could save me in this pinch.

I brought my hands up in front of my face, and squeezed my eyes shut tightly.

_"Solar flare!"_

When I opened my eyes Toguro had stopped mid-punch because of the blinding light and I was able to send a barrage of powerful punches into his unguarded stomach before he recovered. He went to hit me again and I quickly retreated in time for him to send another punch into the ring, creating yet another crater.

"You're tricky, Kairi," Toguro said, shaking the cement from his fist. "I didn't expect you to be able to compensate for your lack of speed so well. I would be impressed, but. . ."

"But what?" I asked.

"You're holding something back. I thought you might take this more seriously," he said. "I find your lack of effort disappointing."

"I think my lack of effort is directly related to yours. After all, I know for a fact that _you're_ holding something back," I said.

"If you want to see my full power, you'll have to prove that you're worth it," he said.

I smirked. "Then I guess you'd better make me, huh?"

"It would be my pleasure!" Toguro shouted, running at me. I returned the favor, running at him as well. His punch hit me in the face, and mine hit him in the stomach. He quickly delivered a swift kick to my face and sent me flying into the stands.

I felt my body slide through the concrete stands like butter until I hit the back wall slightly dazed. A felt a trickle blood slide down my neck and twinge of pain flashed across my cheek. Now I was pissed. I flew back into the ring and glared at him.

"I bet you think you're real clever doing that, making me look like nothing but a massive shit talker, huh?" I asked. I pointed at my cheek. "But you see this? You made me bleed. Next time you make me bleed you'd better make damn sure that you kill me because this is unacceptable!"

I launched myself at Toguro and he threw down a punch at me; I leapt into the air as he made contact with the ring, sending a flurry of debris into the sky after me. But I was pissed, and I had to teach him a lesson.

I brought my hands to my side and quickly charged up my energy in one massive attack.

_"Kame. . ."_ I began, _"hame. . ."_ Toguro looked up at me and realized what I was doing. He was wide open and it was going to come to fast for him to block. _"Ha!"_

I launched the Kamehameha wave at him, making a direct hit, the light was blinding and the blast was massive. It engulfed the ring and sent Toguro flying out of the stadium, burning through the forest as he went.

I brought the attack to an end and landed on the ground. Toguro was still going through the hole I'd put in the side of the stadium. He would be back, and hopefully he would be hurting. That was for making me bleed.

"It's absolutely incredible! Kairi Son, alternate and Spirit Detective has sent Toguro flying through the side of the stadium obliterating part of the forest and the entire ring," Koto announced. "Now that's what I call girl power."

"Goku-Kairi," I heard Yusuke say as he joined me by the hole I'd just blown Toguro through, "what the hell was that?"

"That was my daddy's Kamehameha Wave," I said.

"Do you think you got him?" Yusuke asked.

"Did you see that? Of course she got him!" Kuwabara said. "That was awesome! I didn't know you had that kind of energy."

"You are full of surprises," Kurama said.

"He's definitely not dead. Hopefully he's hurting though," I said.

"If Toguro comes back unscathed you're going to have some issues," Hiei said.

"Maybe so," I said with a shrug. "But don't worry; I'm sure I'll think of something."

Hiei scoffed.

"Oh, come on, Hiei. Have some faith in me. After all, I thought you were nothing more than a little shit talker too when Zeru set you on fire, but when you came back and turned him into ash I decided that maybe I needed to shut the fuck up. You might do me the same courtesy," I said

"You should be so lucky," Hiei said.

I turned back to the hole in the wall. I could feel it. He was coming back.

"You guys might want to get out of the way. He's coming I suspect he's not too happy with me," I said.

The boys retreated as Toguro emerged.

I grimaced. He was fine. Perfectly fine. The only thing he was missing were those damn sunglasses. That was problematic, but I couldn't show it.

"I bet you think that was incredibly clever," Toguro said.

"Awe, are you mad I broke your sunglasses?" I asked, bending down to untie my boots. It was time for desperate measures. I had to get him to show his full power and I had to take him out. This wasn't going to be easy with the amount of energy I had left.

"I think I'm just going to kill you now. If you're not going to take this seriously than neither am I," he said.

I shrugged. "Have it your way then. Come at me, bro."

And come at me he did. He charged at me quickly, and I almost didn't have time to dodge, but I leapt out of my shoes into the air behind him and kicked him in the back of the head, sending him face first into the ground. I landed on the ground behind him. I was just screwing around at this point, only to hide that I was getting anxious.

Toguro got to his feet and leered at me.

"Weighted, training clothes. I should've known you would do something foolish like that," Toguro said. "You're slow enough as it is and you think you can handle me with that on?"

"That was the hope, yes," I said. "Don't call it arrogance. Think of it as me being a lady and trying not to be immodest by disrobing in public. My father is watching after all."

"I think you had better start taking this more seriously," he said.

"Me thinks someone needs to learn the fine art of patience," I said.

I pulled the orange top shirt of my gi over my head and tossed it to the ground. Next came my long sleeved blue shirt leaving me in nothing but a sports bra.

"For some reason, Kairi has decided to start disrobing in the middle of the fight! Now that's what I call fan service," Koto said.

I pulled off my pants to reveal a pair of black yoga shorts. Now I was ready.

"Does this please you?" I asked.

"Pull a stunt like that again and I will kill you," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "Enough talk. Let's work."

I ran at Toguro fast as I could carry myself, he went to get me straight on, but I leapt into the air and delivered another one of my signature kicks to the side of his face, knocking him to the ground. Even I was startled at how fast I was moving. I hadn't taken the weights off in months.

I wasted no time delivering a crippling blow to his stomach, sinking him into the ground. I had him now and didn't stop. I kept hitting him and hitting with everything I had.

But he was doing nothing to stop me. He was just laying there.

I had to stop. I leapt out of the crater and stared at him.

Now I was feeling something else. The excitement and challenge that I felt before was starting give way to anxiety and just a hint of fear. Toguro was not out of this match yet, but I was the one in control, and yet he wasn't even bothering to fight me off. Something was wrong. I could feel it in my bones.

Toguro rose up from the crater in the ground, his appearance completely changed. He was lanky and scrawny, as if all of his muscles had deflated. Even his head seemed smaller. This was like the quiet before the storm.

"You said you wouldn't make this easy for me, and you did not disappoint," Toguro said. "I had been saving this for your partner, but it seems you'll do just fine for it as well. Let me introduce you to my full power."

The fear started fade away and anticipation grew within me. This is what I had been working towards, getting him to bring this out. Now it was time to see if I'd been right. If I could at least get close to matching Toguro's power, I could beat him down enough to make sure Yusuke had no chance of losing, but I knew Toguro was powerful and that I still had to expect the worst.

I felt his energy start to rise and his muscles began to expand grotesquely. The stadium floor shook beneath my feet. I thought back to how many times my dad and Vegeta and my brother made the Earth shake with the just the use of their energy. This was going to be a fierce battle. I could already tell. His demon energy sprayed out in all directions massacring the audience.

I was starting to think I didn't stand a chance, but even if I didn't this was one fight I had no intention of backing down from. I was either going to win or go down in a blaze of glory.

His energy enveloped the entire stadium in darkness. I couldn't see anything, but I could feel him growing stronger and stronger.

When his energy finally peaked and the darkness gave way to light, there he stood. A titan. He was a hulking beast of a man now, completely gray all over with more muscles that I thought was possible.

"So this is it then," I said.

"You sound unimpressed," he said.

"Sorry, I am very impressed, really, I am. I was just thinking that you're even stronger than I anticipated," I said.

"Oh, really?" he asked.

I nodded. "I'm not sure I can win." That's when I readied myself. "But if I can't, I'm sure as hell going to enjoy this."

"You only think that because you're not working to your potential," Toguro shouted. He barely moved his arm before sending a wave of his energy at me. I tried to hold it back, but it eventually overtook me, knocking me to the ground.

This was much worse than I'd anticipated.

"Get up, Kairi. You're still screwing around," Toguro said.

"Who says I'm screwing around? Do you think I would have wasted my energy trying to block you if I thought I could?" I asked.

"It's your own fault that you can't," Toguro said, throwing another blast at me and knocking me to the ground. I could feel cuts and stinging all over my legs, arms, and abdomen. He was going to chop me into fish food with just his energy.

I couldn't just stand there and let him mince me up. I had to go on the defensive.

I charged up for a Destructo disk and launched it at him.

He caught with his bare hand and tossed it into the crowd, sending dozens of audience members to their deaths.

"Shit," I said.

"Don't curse me. It's your own fault that you're in this position after all. You're the one denying your basic instincts," Toguro said.

"What do you know about it?" I asked.

"I know that you're just as arrogant and cocky as your partner over there except for whatever reason you're arrogant enough to believe that you can be the best without working hard at it," he said. "You were born a strong and gifted warrior and so you foolishly decided to remain as you thinking that you were unstoppable. Look where your foolishness has gotten you."

"That's where you're wrong, Toguro," I said. "I know I was born powerful, but I also know that no matter what I wanted to do, or what I wanted to accomplish I had to work for it. I know that there's a part of me that could defeat you without a second thought, but the reason I didn't push myself to that level wasn't out of foolishness. It was because I want to feel challenged. I don't want to be some undefeatable monster like you. It was because I want to defeat you as a human. I want to show you how powerful the humanity you gave up really is."

"And what if your humanity fails you?" Toguro asked.

I scoffed. "Even if you kill me I'll still have proven my point. I'm not going to run from death like you did."

"You're still fighting your basic instinct to become stronger! You are a warrior! You always have been! You can't fight instinct for very long," Toguro said. That's when two spouts popped up on Toguro's shoulders. Then astonishingly, the souls of the audience member's started being sucked into them. "This is instinct! When I'm at my full power my body has a need to consume souls in order sustain itself. Of course, this only starts to happen when I will it to do so. I'd say there's about 20 minutes left until I've consumed the souls of everyone here. Are you going to continue to deny yourself your true abilities or are you going to let them all die."

I glared at him. "You're a monster. I doubt if you were ever human at all."

"Good," he said.

That's when I noticed that the audience member's were starting to make a run for it from the stadium. Suddenly, 20 foot high concrete walls sprang up all around it. Only the winners were making it out of here alive.

The crowd didn't take to kindly to this and started to charge Toguro. He easily dispatched them by barely flexing his muscles and sending most of them to oblivion.

"If you're done interrupting, the detective and I have some unfinished business to attend to," Toguro said. "Now, Kairi, what have you decided to do."

I ran at Toguro with everything I had, but he was now much faster than me, even with my weighted clothes gone and I couldn't close the gap.

He sent me flying into the stadium wall, and I could feel it. I was starting to run low on energy. This was not looking so good.

I fell down to the ground out of the wall and stumbled to my feet.

"Is that the best you can do, Kairi?" he asked me. That's when he made a move and sent a blast of energy flying into the stands. It hit only feet away from my family and the girls.

"I wonder if I'll miss next time," he said.

I charged him and hit him square in the face.

"How dare you? This is between me and you! Leave them out of it!" I said. I then leapt into the air and kicked him square in the jaw, but he reversed it, hitting me in the stomach sending me sliding across the stadium floor on my face.

"You're not trying hard enough," he said.

"No, you're not trying hard enough at all."

The voice was familiar, but it was impossible. Toguro must've hit me much harder than I thought because it sounded like-.

"All right, Kairi, listen up because I'm not going to repeat myself you understand?"

I looked to the side and saw Puu floating there, grimacing at me. But he was talking to me and he sounded like. . .

"Genkai?" I asked.

"Yes, please be all surprised as if stranger things haven't happened to you. now I haven't got much time left so you'd better listen good," she said.

I quickly accepted that I was not hallucinating and that this was indeed Genkai possessing Puu's body while trying to deliver a message to me.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I thought that I'd have to give the dimwit over there a stern talking to, but I expected better from you. What did I tell you to do before I died?" she asked.

"You told me to win," I said. "To make sure that everyone made it home."

"And at the rate you're going everyone is going to end up dead. Congratulations," she said.

"I'm doing the best I can, okay," I said. "I just. . ."

"Didn't work hard enough, didn't go to your potential, you half assed it, just like your dimwit partner over there," she said. "And it's not as if I don't understand your reasoning or if Toguro doesn't understand, but now you've got to suffer the consequences of taking the higher moral ground."

My eyes flickered over to Yusuke, standing not too far away from me. We had a plan. I was supposed to get Toguro to show his full power so that Yusuke knew what he was up against. I had to go at Toguro with all that I had to make sure that Yusuke got the win. But I knew something was wrong with all this. If Toguro overcame me now, I knew that Yusuke still wouldn't have what it took to defeat him.

"Toguro told me that it would be my fault Yusuke couldn't beat him," I said. "And he's right. If I were just that much stronger, if I had a little more energy I could defeat Toguro myself, but he's just that much more powerful than me and I can't close the gap. And so is Yusuke, but I can't get to my power. . . But I can get Yusuke to."

"You already know what you have to do, Kairi," Genkai said. "Don't make me come back here," she warned.

"No we wouldn't want that," I said.

Genkai flew away and I was left to let the truth of the matter settle into my brain.

I looked over at Yusuke again and I flashed him the peace sign.

"Kairi, what are you doing?" he asked.

I winked at him. "Just don't let me down, okay, Yusuke? We're Team Spirit Detective now." Then I turned to Toguro. "You may think I was just a little pawn in your chess game, but I promise you're going to regret this."

"No, Kairi, I don't think I will," Toguro said.

I was going to make sure this was ended now, but I wasn't going to go down without a fight. I had to seal this win for Yusuke.

I powered up for the Kaio-ken and then powered up for the greatest Kamehameha Wave I would ever use in my lifetime.

It was ten times more massive than the last one I'd fired at him, but inside I knew that it just wasn't enough to take him down. Still, I had to knock him down a few pegs and then bring Yusuke up to his level.

I fired the blast at him and it engulfed him. There was a flash of light and slowly, my body started to drain of energy and my last ditch effort drew to a close. I brought my arms down to my sides, no longer able to hold them up. All the energy I had left was keeping me alive.

Toguro was down for longer than I had expected, but when he got to his feet he seemed too pleased.

"That was quite an attack detective. Maybe if you were just a little stronger you would've killed me, but alas, that is not the case," Toguro said.

I chuckled. I could hear Yusuke calling out to me, but I tuned him out. He was going to hate me for this, but I knew he'd understand soon.

"I don't have the energy to dodge, so why don't you just finish me quick," I said.

"With pleasure," he said.

Toguro brought his hand straight forward and pierced through my naked abdomen like a knife. The first thing I felt was the pain, then I could taste the blood starting to pool in my throat. My body became weak and I fell to my knees. I wrapped my hands around my gaping wound and prepared.


	37. Vengeance

_[A⁄N: In which I do a poor job writing in Yusuke's POV. Points for trying though, right? Hardest stuff I've ever written in my life.]_

**Yusuke POV**

It had all happened so quickly that it barely registered in my brain. Kairi's Kamehameha Wave hit Toguro straight on, but he got to his feet. I just kept remembering what she'd said to me in the locker room.

_"That'll be my last ditch effort. If I have to use that then it means I've run out of energy and of options and if it doesn't work successfully then you'd better get ready to step in because that will be the end of me."_

The Kaio-ken technique, her last ditch effort, had failed and Toguro was still standing. Had she known she was going to fail? Maybe she still had something planned, but it couldn't be happening.

Toguro walked up to Kairi and in a flash his hand shot into her. He pulled it out of her, shaking the blood from his hands as if it were nothing.

"Kairi!" I called out to her as she fell to her knees grabbing at her stomach. She then brought her hands to her mouth and she coughed up blood that just didn't seem to stop coming.

I was next to her before I even knew what was going on, and the rest of the team was in tow.

Kairi was pale. Had I ever seen her pale before? Had I ever seen Kairi weak before? I'd seen her cry before, when she angry or scared, but even then there was something about her feelings, something about the way she'd always get so worked up that made her stronger, that made her want to fight.

But now she was on her knees, there was an emptiness to her eyes that I couldn't explain and jagged breaths escaped from her lips.

"Kairi, are you okay?" I asked.

She chuckled. How was she even smiling right now?

"Well, there's a gaping hole in my abdomen and I'm dying so. . . Not okay," she wheezed.

"Just hang in there. I'm gonna kick this guy's ass and then we're gonna get you help so just hang in there," I pleaded with her.

She shook her head. "But you can't Yusuke. You can't beat Toguro if I'm alive." 

"What are you talking about?" Yusuke said.

"Do you remember when I told you that Toguro said that it would be my fault if you lost? Well he's wrong about a lot of things, but not about that," Kairi said."You and I both need just a little push to get the small bit of energy that it takes to defeat him. I can't get mine, but you can."

"Kairi, what are you trying to say?" I asked.

"There's a ten foot wall of shit between you and your emotions and that's where your power is. It's why you couldn't use your energy when you fought against team Ichigaki. It's why you would lose against Toguro if I didn't do this. When you feel great emotion you can do great things with your Spirit Energy. Genkai taught me that," she said. "So, I'm sorry I have to emotionally scar you for life for you to get your shit together, but that's the way it is."

"You don't have to do this, Kairi. Just hang on," I said.

"The walls have to come down, Yusuke," Kairi said. Her body starting teetering and she fell forward. I caught her.

It felt like someone had plunged a knife deep into my chest was finding some way to drive it deeper and deeper.

"You guys, just do me a favor," Kairi said, "I promised Genkai that'd we'd win and that you'd all go home. . . So make sure that happens no matter what. . . 'Cause I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a liar."

"You have our word," Kurama said.

"You really are related to Genkai with your long winded speeches," Toguro said.

"Hey, Toguro," Kairi said. "You may have taken my body but there's one thing a Saiyan never loses. . . Their pride. . ." Her eyelids fluttered closed. "So fuck you."

"Kairi, just don't," I said.

"It's okay," she said quietly. "I've got an. . . an insurance policy."

"No just hang in there a little longer while I finish," I said.

She managed a quiet chuckle again before resting her head against my shoulder.

"That. . ." Kairi started, "that's what she said."

Her Spirit Energy was gone. Her body went limp. She stopped breathing. Kairi Son was dead.

I sat there on my knees, holding another lifeless body in my arms. Someone else had died for me. My partner. My best friend. I'd known Kairi since I was five-years-old. Over a year ago she'd watched me get hit by a car and die. Now it was like she was paying back the favor.

"How anticlimactic; you knew her for so long and now she's dead," Toguro said.

I felt the invisible knife in my chest get pulled out and I was overwhelmed with the amount of energy that came pouring out of me. I laid Kairi down on the ground.

"There it is. The power your friend was incapable of reaching you have brought out," Toguro said.

"Why don't you just shut up? I think I've had enough of you talking for today," I said.

"It's your own fault, you know, for living in a constant state of repression," Toguro said.

"You took my teacher. And now you took my friend. What the hell do you want from me?" I asked.

"I want to fight you, Yusuke Urameshi. Your partner was just as capable of reaching this level, but she lacked the drive that you have to reach it. Her only use to me was to draw out your true powers and now you and I can battle as equals," Toguro said.

I scoffed. "That's a load of crap and you know it."

Toguro ran at and punched me square in the face sending me flying back into the stadium wall. I just sat there and stared at my feet.

"I know that punch didn't hurt you, Yusuke. Before it might've knocked you unconscious but I know now that you didn't even feel it. If that's not a sign of equal power, I don't know what is," Toguro said.

"You're right about one thing, that punch didn't hurt," I said getting to my feet. I could still see Kairi lying there motionless, eyes closed, almost like she was sleeping.

_"Do you remember when I told you that Toguro said that it would be my fault if you lost? Well he's wrong about a lot of things, but not about that."_

Kairi was wrong. It wasn't her fault that I was in this situation, it was mine. If I knew how to get to my stupid powers then she wouldn't have even had to fight. She would still be alive. It was my own damn fault she was dead.

"Feeling guilty?" Toguro asked.

I looked up and glared at him. I was tired of hearing this son of a bitch's voice.

"Don't worry. It's like the chicken pox—once you get over it the first time it never comes back. Think about it Yusuke, what do you owe these people? Why do you let their weakness drag you down?" he asked. "Throw off the bags of guilt and weakness. Believe only in your own strength and it can never let you down."

"Shut up, Toguro," I said. "I'm not like you. I won't just throw people away."

"Let go," Toguro said.

"No. I wouldn't have made it this far without those guys help. Whenever I was getting my ass kicked, it was because of them that I had the strength to get through it," I said.

"And that's why you've been limited up until now. You're soft! You don't need anyone else but yourself! Don't you see that!" Toguro yelled.

I don't know why, but I pitied him in that moment. I shook my head. "No."

"Then maybe I should kill another one of your friends," Toguro said. He turned to face them down and started to walk toward them.

I moved quickly and grabbed his arm. He turned back and looked down at me.

"Let go," he said.

"You know, somewhere deep down inside, I respected you. Genkai told me over and over again how stupid I was, but I looked at how powerful you were and saw that nobody could mess with you and I wanted that," I admitted.

"Then you should take my advice," Toguro said.

"Idiot! I'm not done," I said. I could feel my energy growing. The ground beneath us was trembling, cracks stretched out in the ground in every direction. "That's what I did want until Genkai told me the rest of your story. . . Since I came to this tournament I learned the value of what you gave away. It's just like what Kairi said. I'm not going to give that up even if I have to die because I'm better than you!"

I squeezed his wrist tightly and continued to power up as crater grew around us.

"I see you're a disciple of Genkai in every way, you're a slave to your weaker emotions," he said.

"You shouldn't even be allowed to speak her name. Today, you die Toguro," I said.

Toguro let out a scathing laugh, but I'd had enough. I leapt up and punched him in the face. He tumbled on his face across the stadium floor, but I wasn't finished yet, I charged up my Spirit Gun and fired, launching him back through the stadium walls, sending the energy blast through the concrete barriers and up into the sky.

"Get on your feet," I demanded. "I'm going to fire one last Spirit Gun with all that I've got so no more fakes or stupid surprises. Come at me with all you've got. I'm going to end this one way or another. If I win this time I don't want to see you get back up."

Toguro smirked and rose to his feet.

"The eyes of determination, I've seen them many times on glory seeking fools and I'm always obliged to give them what they want. Almost always it's a fight with me and I have always given them death, but you have actually asked me to give it all that I have," Toguro said.

I watched as Toguro's muscles began to grow and expand just as disgustingly as they had before, but I was unfazed. This is what I wanted.

"I admit that I haven't been completely honest with you. What I said was one hundred percent was more like 85. To fully become master of a trade you commit your all to it and throw everything else away. Without that you will never be more than a groundling," Toguro said.

"Damn you're stupid. You didn't throw it away," I scoffed. "You ran away from it. Like frightened little child. I won't run and I won't let go." I charged up my Spirit Gun with all the energy I had left in my body. I didn't care if I died. I just needed to make this last shot with everything I had.

Toguro powered up as well, ready to give me everything he had.

And then I fired. Toguro ran at me and put one hand out and grabbed the Spirit Gun, then a second hand as he tried to hold it back, but I kept pouring into until everything I had was gone. I dropped to my knees. That had to be enough.

But Toguro stood steady holding it steady. It pushed him back a few feet and then started to wrap his arms around it and then popped the attack like a balloon.

He was still standing, but I was down. This was it. I fell over onto the ground. Toguro was going to kill me. We'd lost.

I listened as Toguro walked over to me. I didn't have the strength to even lift my head to face him.

"It looks like your all wasn't enough Urameshi," Toguro said. "You fought valiantly and I respect and now I will give you a death fitting of a warrior of your caliber."

"Just make it fast," I muttered into the ground. I just had to face it like Genkai had. Just like Kairi had. I gave it my all; that was all I'd wanted.

"Hey. . . Ugly."

That voice. I knew that voice.

I managed to open my eyes and lift my head slightly. Maybe it was because I was out of energy and about to die for the second time, but I must've been hallucinating. It was Kairi. She was standing there, still bleeding, still looking pale and fragile, but she was on her feet. She was alive.

"You'd think after all of this I wouldn't have to clean up after you anymore, but clearly you're still just a rookie Spirit Detective," she said.


	38. At the End of it All

_[A⁄N: And we're back to Kairi's POV. Thankie mucho! 10 brownie points if you can spot the _Tombstone _reference.]_

Damn, that had hurt a lot more than I had expected to, but I was alive.

To my dismay, Yusuke was down and Toguro was still standing.

I didn't have much energy left, but I knew with absolute certainty that even in this state I could take Toguro down. It might kill me, but hell, I'd been gambling all day. I'd gone all in on a shitty hand once before. Who was to say I couldn't do it again.

I rolled over onto my stomach. The ground hurt, a lot. This wasn't going to be easy. I should've thought about how badly the Kaio-ken was going to affect me after this.

"Kairi?" Kuwabara exclaimed as I managed to push myself up with one hand.

"Whatever you do, don't touch me," I said.

"But. . . but. . . but," he stammered.

"Yeah, I know," I said. I got up to my knees. The wound in my chest was, literally, killing me. I grasped at it with my hand and managed to get myself up onto my feet. "I just gotta go do this thing."

I struggled forward toward my fallen friend, behind Toguro. Then I stopped walking. I didn't have the energy for this. I just needed finish him off here.

"You damn rookie," I said. Everything was still fuzzy and I was lightheaded. Things kept going in and out of focus, but I was alive.

Toguro turned around and Yusuke raised his head to look at me.

"You'd think after all of this I wouldn't have to clean up after you anymore, but clearly you're still just a rookie Spirit Detective," I said.

"I just can't believe it! Yusuke goes down and up comes Kairi! She's bleeding all over the place but somehow after being killed by Toguro she's managed to come back from the dead! It looks like no one on Team Urameshi can stay dead for very long!" Koto announced.

"I killed you," Toguro said.

"Yeah, not staying dead is a problem we have in my family," I said. "But, it's like I keep telling people. I'm Spirit Detective for a reason. In other news, I told you something before and you've really pissed me off because you don't fucking listen."

"And what was that?" he asked.

I held up my bloody and showed him. "I said if you make me bleed again you had better make damn sure you killed me. . . And you did not. So now I have to kill you."

He laughed. "Arrogant. Stupid and arrogant. That's what you are Kairi Son. How can you expect to kill me when you can barely keep yourself alive? You've lost so much blood I bet you're seeing double."

I chuckled. "You're right, but it's okay. Because I've got two guns." I held up both of my hands and started charging up for two final Spirit Guns, but instead of using Spirit Energy, I used my ki instead. "One for each of you."

Toguro prepared for my attack, but I knew it was futile. He'd used up everything on Yusuke. I could finish him off no problem.

"Have fun wrestling greased up German guys in hell," I said. I fired the Spirit guns and they made direct contact with Toguro bursting into little bits of nothingness as the smacked against him.

But then he started towards me, moving slowly but there was something nonthreatening about him.

He stopped just short of me.

"And now that surviving beast can at lat rest in peace," he said. Suddenly cracks began to appear all over his skin like he was made of stone and in a flash it shattered, showing Toguro, a human Toguro beneath it. An emptiness filled his eyes and he fell over onto the ground. Then he seemed to turn into a large white stone.

I dropped down to my knees, grabbing at the gaping hole in my chest as Yusuke climbed to his feet.

Juri and Koto ran out onto the field as Yusuke stared at me from across the way.

"Winners of The Dark Tournament, Team Urameshi!" they declared.

The few people remaining the audience cheered. Yusuke smiled at me and I smiled back. Then I fell over.

The rest of my team was by my side in an instant.

"What the hell happened? You were dead! Your Spirit Energy was gone. You stopped breathing!" Yusuke said.

"Yes, I think we're all curious to see you explain this," Kurama said, sitting me up.

"It's really a great story," I chuckled. "I'm sorry I had to fool you guys like that."

"What did you do?" Kuwabara asked.

"I realized a couple of things after I talked to Genkai. The first being that I was right about not training to become a Super Saiyan, it would've been over kill. The second thing I realized was just what I told you guys, that the walls needed to come down for Yusuke to win. Then I realized that I needed to get stronger to make sure this never happened again, but I needed to prove my point to Toguro and make sure that when I went down Yusuke could finish him," I said. "And then I came up with my plan. I'd take a near fatal injury from Toguro, fake my own death, give Yusuke the strength to take out Toguro and, to quote the Elder Toguro, emerge triumphantly at the end of it all."

"Yes, but how did you do it?" Hiei asked.

"Don't you remember? I said I took out an insurance policy," I said.

They all stared at each other for a moment.

"Of course! The Senzu bean!" Kurama said.

"What? That thing your brother gave you?" Yusuke asked.

"Yeah. Senzu beans are nifty when you're out of energy and in a bind. It basically replenishes all of the energy in your body to a certain extent. While it doesn't work very well for Spirit Energy, if you happen to be using you ki," I said.

"Yes, yes, yes. It all makes sense," Kurama said.

"Only to you apparently," Hiei said.

"As Kairi has pointed out many times she is more inclined to using her ki, energy that she draws from her physical strength, than she is to using Spirit Energy. Because she's half Saiyan she's able to accumulate a great surplus of this, but it's also why she isn't as skilled with sensing energy as the rest of us," Kurama said. "But the other advantage she has to her ability to use ki is that she has a back up supply of energy. Obviously she drained both of her stores, the first time when she used the Kamehameha Wave and the second time when she used the Spirit Gun to stage her alleged death."

"All right, so after Toguro attacked you ate the Senzu bean and you managed to stay alive," Yusuke said.

"Yeah, but how come we didn't know she was alive afterward? I mean, we would've sensed her energy even if she was barely alive," Kuwbara said.

"But you wouldn't have. I am fresh out of Spirit Energy, but thanks to the Senzu bean, my ki started coming back and to my advantage you're not so great at sensing it. You can feel my dad and Vegeta's because they have so much of it, but I'm half dead. I wouldn't even pop up on your radar," I said. "Didn't you think it was weird that my family just stayed in their seats while I was dying?"

"Right, they must've been able to sense that you were still alive and therefore not concerned," Kurama replied.

"Damn right," Goten said landing on the ground next to me. "Besides, Kairi's not stupid enough to get herself killed. Mom would not be happy."

"Right, I'd be dead and she'd still find a way to haunt me," I said.

"Here," Goten said wrapping his jacket around me. "After Toguro went full power, he ripped a hole in your bra and now everyone can see your side boob. This is why dad always says-."

"'Wear a t-shirt if you're going to take off your weighted clothes so you don't make your mother cry.' I know," I said.

Goten lifted me up from the ground and slung me onto his back as Sakyo approached.

"That was quite a show you put on, Detectives," he said.

"Well, you know us, we aim to entertain," I said.

"Unfortunately we can't really say that this tournament is over," Sakyo said.

I sighed. "All right, who wants to fight Sakyo?"

He chuckled. "You misunderstand. The winner of the last round earned two points. And Toguro may be a large man, I wouldn't say he was worth two points. No, my life is forfeit as well. 

"Hey, man, don't even worry about that. You just go home and count all of your money like a good little rich boy," I said.

"No," Sakyo said, pulling a remote control from his pocket. "I don't think I will." He pushed a button and the whole stadium began to rumble.

"What did you do?" Yusuke asked.

_"Stadium detonation in 20 minutes."_

"Farewell," Sakyo said casually lighting a cigarette and walking away.

". . . What hell just happened?" I asked.

"I think it's time for us to leave," Kurama said.

"Kazuma!" we heard Yukina calling out from the stands. "Kazuma!"

"Don't worry baby, I'm coming!" Kuwabara exclaimed making a beeline for Yukina through the crowd of demons that were trying to escape the soon to be exploding stadium.

"Weird guy that Kuwabara," Goten said.

"He's an imbecile," Hiei said.

"I guess we should follow his lead," Kurama said.

We walked up the stairs to the top floor of the arena where Yukina was waving to us urgently. The stadium shook violently and above her head a large chunk of the stadium started to topple down.

We blinked and the place where she had been standing was now occupied by the boulder, just off to the side, Hiei had pulled Yukina away.

"Wow, you're really fast even considering that you just single handedly leveled half the stadium not too long ago," Dad said.

"Thank you, Hiei," Yukina said as the pair got to their feet. "Yusuke, there's something wrong with Kayko."

"Kayko?" Yusuke asked. He seemed to develop enough strength to stop using Kurama as a crutch and followed Yukina hastily down to where the rest of our party was.

Kayko was sitting on the ground staring out ahead, completely catatonic.

"She's been like this for a while. We didn't notice until the fight was over but she hasn't be responding to anything," Botan said.

Yusuke dropped down to his knees in front of Kayko and placed both hands on her shoulders.

"Kayko! Hey, Kayko!" he shouted at her. Then he started shaking her. "Kayko! Wake up! This whole time you've been bitching and moaning about how much you want to go home and now you're the one holding up progress! So just wake your ass up so we can go!" He was shaking her and screaming at her but to no avail. That's when he resorted to desperate measure. He started to slap her across the face repeatedly while continuing to shout at her.

A knot formed in my stomach.

"Yusuke," I warned, but he ignored me. By her side, Kayko formed a fist and then raised her hand backhanding Yusuke into a wall.

"Yusuke, you jerk!" she shouted. She started to come out of a daze and the first thing she saw was Yusuke lying on the ground. "Oh, my god! Yusuke!"

Kuwabara poked him. "Yeah, I think he's dead."

Yusuke sat up and looked over to her.

"Jeez, Kayko, even Toguro doesn't hit that hard," he said.

The stadium shook violently again.

"I don't mean to interrupt your happy feel good moment, but I think that you all should start making you way out of the stadium unless you'd like to be blown up," Vegeta suggested.

I'd almost forgotten about it. I thought how easy it would be for us to fly out, but considering the current situation that was not a plausible idea.

We ran through the corridors of the stadium to the lower level towards the exit, but when we reached it there was a giant boulder blocking our way.

"Now what? We haven't got time to find another way out," Botan said.

"Back up, I can get us through here," Trunks said.

But just as he said the boulder turned to gravel before our eyes and on the other side stood Chu, Rinku, Touya, and Jin.

"Looked like you guys could use a hand," Chu said.

We followed them from the stadium and through the concrete walls that had gone up. Once outside the stadium started to explode and crumble to pieces just as Shizuru and Koenma came running up to us.

"Talk about an action movie ending," Kuwabara said.

I nodded in silent agreement. Fighting for our lives and finally having to escape from an exploding was very action movie cliché.

"Oh, shoot," Botan said. "The tournament committee was supposed to give you whatever you wanted for winning."

"It doesn't matter," Yusuke said. "They couldn't have given us what we wanted anyway."

Yusuke was right. When it was all said and done, all we really wanted for all of us to go home back to our normal lives like before. But Genkai had been taken from us. Even the committee couldn't give her back to us and we'd never be able to get what we wanted.

We just wanted Genkai back.


	39. Team Spirit Detective

_[A⁄N: So this is the end kiddies. Hope you've enjoyed watching the dramatic improvement in my writing. I've already got the first 10 chapters of the Chapter Black arc written so it'll be up soon. No worries.]_

It didn't take me long to pass out after we got back to the hotel. But I could tell when I woke up the next morning when I woke up that everyone had done a spectacular job of patching me up. The wound on my stomach was gone, not even a scar remained. I still had no Spirit Energy to speak of, which I expected after yesterday, and my ki was slowly returning although it was basically no existent as well. I was going to be out of commission for a while.

I sat up, running my fingers though my hair which felt spectacularly clean for me having been through an ordeal yesterday, and I even had on my proper pajamas.

"Your father and your brothers cleaned you up and changed your clothes." I looked over to the bed next to me where Hiei was closing his bag, having finished packing up for the day. "In case you were wondering."

"I was, actually," I said. I looked to the last bed in the room and it was empty and all of Kurama's things were gone. He must've been packed already. I turned my attention back to Hiei. "How are you?"

"I'm perfectly fine. Maybe you don't recall but I wasn't seriously injured yesterday," Hiei said.

I scoffed. "I'm almost angry with you for doing so well against Bui. It's just given you another excuse to be arrogant and unsociable. But you did level half the stadium and master a technique that was supposed to be impossible to master so I think I may just let it go, but you've got to tone it back a little."

"Tone what back?" he asked.

"The attitude," I said. "I bet people would like you more if you did."

"As I recall, Detective, you like me just fine don't you?" he asked.

I chuckled awkwardly and turned away from him, staring down at my feet. I couldn't believe he was the one who brought that up.

"Here I was stupidly hoping you'd forget about that," I said.

"Not likely," he said.

"I mean, I highly doubt it's the first time a girl has ever kissed you," I said. "I know that doesn't make it okay, like, I've been totally appalled every time someone has just up and kissed me out of the clear blue sky—I mean it was the same guy so it wasn't _that_ surprising, but still. You don't strike me as the kind of person who feels victimized by that kind of thing."

"I never said I was," he said shaking his head. "I'd just like an explanation."

"Oh," I said. For some reason I hadn't been counting on that. I really thought I could artfully talk my way out of it, but here was, asking for one. I couldn't just come out and tell him I liked him. That would be absurd.

"Well, Detective," Hiei said.

"It's not a big deal," I said.

"Then you should have no problem telling me," he said. He seemed smug. Of course he was. Hiei wasn't an idiot. He may have had an asocial personality, but he knew just as well as Kurama and Yusuke that I liked him. The only person who didn't know I liked him was probably me. I was the dense one.

"I don't know why it matters," I said.

"It was an invasion of my personal space," he said.

"Well if it bothered you so much why did you kiss me back? Answer me that question," I said. Yeah, that was the ticket. I just had to flip this all around on him. Not that it wasn't a good question after all, I had expected him to just shove me away or ask what was wrong with me, but he didn't. He reciprocated.

"I was. . ." he started and to my shock the great stone faced Hiei was flustered. I had managed to embarrass Hiei. Suddenly this wasn't starting to feel so one sided anymore.

"You were what? Practicing your interpersonal communication skills?" I asked.

"Don't patronize me, Detective," he said.

"Then don't stand there and act like an idiot when you're one of the smartest people I know," I said. We were silent for a long moment, before I spoke again. "Evidently, I'm incredibly obvious, and we've already established that you can read me really well so. . ."

"What?" he asked.

"_Am_ I really obvious?" I asked. "I mean, aside from the whole kissing you in the locker room thing because it doesn't get more obvious than that. Like. . ." I laid back on my pillow and took a deep breath. In hindsight I was very obvious, from the first round on. The way I talked to him, the way I was close with him, everything about the way I interacted with Hiei made it obvious "Did you know before?"

"What difference would it make to you if I did?" he asked.

"None. I'm just curious," I said.

"Well, I didn't know, not until yesterday, otherwise, in retrospect I wouldn't have indulged your ridiculous school girl crush," he said.

I sat up again and nodded. I felt a bit relieved that he hadn't known the whole time and that he hadn't been jerking me around.

"Then I guess it's all on you now isn't it, I mean, you still haven't answered my question as per the rules of interpersonal communication," I said

"What question?" he asked.

"Why did you kiss me back?" I asked.

Hiei didn't have the chance to answer because the door flew open and I was greeted by everyone with confetti and noise makers.

"Oh, good, you're already awake. I suspected you might be angry if you were woken up like that," Kurama said. "Happy birthday, by the way."

"Thanks," I said. I looked over to Hiei. We locked eyes briefly and then I looked away. It was unlikely that we were going to get another quiet moment alone to finish our conversation. I just had to accept that we were going to have to leave it like this.

"How are you recovering?" Gohan asked.

"Pretty good," I said poking at the spot on my abdomen when Toguro had stabbed me. "Whoever fixed me up did a pretty good job."

"It was all Yukina! Isn't she just the best?" Kuwabara exclaimed tossing his arm around her.

"Well, I did have a little help from Trunks. You had a very complicated injury," Yukina said.  
"But Trunks said he's handled injuries like that lots of times before." 

"My, Kairi, aren't you just lucky to have a guy like that around whenever you need him," Shizuru teased.

My eyes flickered to Hiei before flashing over to Trunks and then finally landing on my knees.

"Yeah, super lucky," I said.

Somehow, it felt wrong to be talking about Trunks like this with Hiei standing so close by. I knew he didn't care one way or the other if Trunks liked me or if I liked Trunks because Hiei seemed to really careless about the fact that I liked him at all, but that was just it. I liked Hiei and inside it felt wrong for me to like him while being in an ambiguously defined relationship with Trunks. I felt wrong for kissing him yesterday and knowing that I was never going to tell Trunks about it.

I knew I should've felt like I was in the wrong for feeling all of this without telling Trunks, but somehow I felt like I was wronging Hiei by even continuing to entertain the idea of being with Trunks.

I pushed all thoughts of Hiei and Trunks from my brain as Goten walked into the room carrying a plate of food.

"Do I smell pork?" I asked.

"Yes! I'm glad all of that exercise yesterday hasn't ruined your love of sausages," Goten said handing me the plate of food.

"You'd better get up and get dressed. The last boat leaves in two hours. I don't think you want to be stuck here anymore," Shizuru said.

I shook my head. He was right. I was ready to go home.

Everyone piled out of the room, save for Yusuke and Kurama.

"You eat like a garbage disposal," Yusuke said as I cleared the last of my food from my plate.

"So I've been told," I replied.

"I packed up your things last night while you were sleeping," Kurama said handing me my bag.

"Thanks," I said, rummaging through it for a clean outfit.

"So what were you and Hiei talking about?" Yusuke asked.

"What?" I asked.

"You both looked a bit startled when we can into the room and I doubt it had anything to do with the fuss we were making," Kurama said.

"Oh, it was nothing. I was just telling him that I thought he was going to be more arrogant and antisocial than ever now that he's mastered the dragon is all," I said.

"Got that right," Yusuke said. "He's the only one who never got knocked through a wall or stabbed or almost died. And you did all three of those."

"Cause I'm a triple threat," I said.

"In other news, we spoke to Vegeta last night after you were all taken care of and he seemed concerned about your energy," Kurama said.

"What for? It's not back at all yet, but I feel fine," I said.

"He said something about you being your father's child and not gradually getting stronger and bad timing," Yusuke said.

"He meant that your power level is going to be unstable when you fully regain your energy in a few days because of the injury you took," Kurama said.

"Oh, right, cause I'm a Saiyan. Zenkai power and all that," I said. "I think not becoming a Super Saiyan is a pipe dream for me now."

"He agrees. But usually under these circumstances where one of you has taken an injury and recovered from it quickly, it's usually in the heat of battle and you can use the untamed energy to your advantage, but considering that you managed to save everyone from certain death without the use of your new found energy it's all just bottling up inside of you," Kurama said. "And since, apparently, you've never taken an injury of the magnitude before the level of increase is going to be too much for you to handle all at once."

"That's what he said," Yusuke said.

"Well done," I said.

"Thank you," Yusuke replied.

"So what you're saying, Kurama, is that I can't use my energy?" I asked.

"Right," he said. "For your own safety and the safety of everyone around you," Kurama said. "At least not until your energy tapers off and gets used to be contained within your own body. Otherwise you're going to end up like Bui unable to control your energy all of the time which according to Vegeta-."

"Is unacceptable because I'm a Saiyan and we have to be able to control our powers because we're Saiyans and we run this shit," I said.

"Basically," Kurama said.

888

"Botan do we have to do this? I still look all pale and half alive and you want to capture that forever in a photograph?" I asked.

We were outside on the shore making our way to the dock to catch the boat home. Botan was still wearing her Team Urameshi pride and decided that she wanted a picture of all of us.

"Oh, come Kairi, it's your birthday and you managed to survive the Dark Tournament. A picture won't kill you," Kayko said as Yusuke and Kurama dragged an outraged Hiei over to be in the picture with us.

Botan stood behind the camera setting up the timer with Yukina.

"Yukina, come be in the picture!" Kuwabara said.

"Oh, but I can't Kazuma. I know that if I take a picture the photograph will steal my soul," Yukina said.

I'd never heard such a dead silence. I knew how isolated the Ice Village was and realized now that Yukina might be a bit of a sheltered rube.

"All right, everyone get ready!" Botan exclaimed pushing us all together in a group. We all posed appropriately and the picture snapped. Botan quickly jumped up to her feet to see how it turned out. "Oh, no!"

"What's wrong?" Kayko asked.

"Hiei's not smiling. He's ruined the picture," Botan said as Kayko came to investigate.

"Oh, Botan, that's just the way his face always looks. You don't want the picture to be fake do you? Besides, it'd look much weirder if he was smiling," Shizuru said.

"Yeah, and he only looks begrudged in this instead of like he hates everyone. You could almost consider it his version of smiling," Yukina said.

"All right," Botan said still sounding displeased. "Kairi, where have your people run off to?"

"My brothers, Trunks, and Vegeta already went to get on the boat, but my Dad disappeared somewhere with Koenma a while ago," I said. "I may've become Spirit Detective, but I definitely think it was because I was second bananas to my dad. I know he's Koenma's favorite."

"Considering how cool your dad is, I don't really think that's a bad thing," Yusuke said.

We heard the boat horn sound off in the distance.

"Looks like it's really time for us to go home now," Kayko said.

"Back to skipping detention!" Yusuke cheered.

"And video games!" Kuwabara said.

"My human mother," Kurama said.

"Various crimes," Hiei said.

"And Kayko being the only one who gets to see me naked on a semi-regular basis," I said high-fiving Kayko with a laugh.

"Well, excuse me if I'm a little insulted!"

We all froze. We'd all heard the voice behind us and turned slowly. Standing not too far off from us, waving like it was any other day, was Genkai.

"Are you just going to leave this old fossil behind?" she asked.

It didn't take more than a second for everyone to run up and smother her with hugs, but Yusuke and I just stood there, still slightly in shock.

Then I saw my dad walk up behind her, and he winked at me.

"Genkai! Come here you beautiful old, hag!" Yusuke exclaimed running up to her.

I walked up to her. Welcoming her back with a hug before walking over to my dad.

"You didn't really come here because mom sent you did you?" I asked.

Dad shrugged. "I may have misled your brothers and Trunks and Vegeta a little bit about why we were coming."

"How long have you known what Genkai was up to?" I asked.

He thought for a moment. "Well, Koenma told me a few months ago while you were with Vegeta that he might need help convincing King Yemma of bringing someone back to life later on. . ."

"So the three of you were in on it the whole time?" I asked.

"And not just that, but also making sure that Yusuke managed to unlock his true potential as well," Dad said.

"So, not only did you know about Genkai and Toguro, you also knew that when it came down to it I was going to have to throw my fight with Toguro to make sure that Yusuke could do it?" I asked.

He nodded. "Just like how I helped Gohan win against Cell, but I couldn't just let my daughter kill herself so I went to see Korin to make sure that you didn't."

I chuckled. "You know what, Dad, you're a lot smarter than you let people give you credit for. Even me. What's up with that?"

"I'm not really. I just know when you're getting into trouble and I try to keep you safe," he said, putting his arm around me. "Speaking of which, I have something to tell you that you're not going to like very much."

"What?" I asked.

"Well, since Vegeta said you can't use your energy for a while and because demons are always trying to kill you and kids in the city are always trying to beat you up we decided it's probably a good idea that you stay in West City when school starts," Dad said

I scoffed. "But, Dad-."

"I know, you could always just take the Nimbus cloud and be happy," Dad said, "but your mom would probably not like that."

I sighed. "Great. So now I need a babysitter."

"Kurama already said he'd keep an eye on you and he lives right by Kuwabara so he said he'd walk you to school every morning to make sure you didn't run into trouble," Dad said. "Besides, you need a break."

888

Hanging Neck Island sank slowly into the distance as we sailed away from it. I never wanted to see that place again if I could help it. I probably never would. The larger stadium was destroyed. Koenma informed us that the Tournament committee had been murdered and everyone in the Black Black Club, including Sakyo, was dead. I wasn't going to be hearing about the Dark Tournament for a long time.

Yusuke popped up and hoisted himself up to sit on the railing next to where I stood.

"So, I heard you're going to be living with Kurama now," Yusuke said.

"Only until I can use my energy. It's going to be weird though," I said. "Kurama's mother knows all about me getting into trouble and that her sister is married to some weird alien guy who's super strong, but apparently remains blissfully ignorant of Spirit World and the fact that her child is actually a demon who's several hundred years old."

"So, she knows enough to know that you don't have an energy and need to stay there to keep out of trouble, but not enough to know out of what trouble or why you don't have energy?" Yusuke asked.

"Exactly," I said. "It's probably better that way. Things would be different with Kurama and his mom if she knew the truth."

"Your family is complicated," Yusuke said. "And you were right, you really don't stay dead for very long do you?"

"Nope," I said looking over to Genkai who was happily in a conversation with Kayko and Botan. "You can handle things can't you?"

"Say what now?" he asked.

"I'm out of commission. I mean, demons are going to be pacified now that the tournament is over so we probably won't get another assignment for ages, but if something does happen, I can count on you to handle it solo, right?" I asked.

Yusuke smirked. "You've been doing it on your own since you were eight. Can't be that hard."

"Yeah, but the stronger you get the bigger your reputation gets. The weaker and stupider demons stay away. The stronger, smarter ones start to pop up," I said. "I mean, you're lucky Kurama wasn't actually evil because-." 

"Yeah, he would've destroyed me. No offense but he's kind of crazy, and smart mixed with crazy just is scary," Yusuke said. "And now I've got his demon form to worry about–damn, I'm glad we're friends."

I laughed. "So I can count you?"

"Yeah, I guess, as long as those bozos are around to help me out," Yusuke said.

I looked around. Kuwabara was talking excitedly with Yukina, gesturing wildly as he went. Kurama was currently laughing with Goten and Trunks. Hiei stood off by himself staring out at the sea contemplative as always.

"Yeah, I think we'll be fine if trouble comes around," I said. "As long as you've got Team Urameshi to help you?"

Yusuke chuckled. "Nope. Team Spirit Detective."


End file.
